The Acadiana Advocate 07-17-2025 by The Advocate

Federal investigation

zeroes in on visa scheme

Several La. police chiefs accused in probe of fake crimes

BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer

Since 2015, hundreds of non-U.S. citizens in Rapides and Allen parishes have applied for special visas claiming they were the victim of or witness to a crime In virtually every incident, they were listed on police reports as victims of armed robberies. If approved, they could stay in the country legally for at least four years to help law enforcement investigate and prosecute

Except the crimes never happened, according to federal investigators. Instead, they claim foreign nationals, most of whom were from India, paid Oakdale business owner Chandrakant “Lala” Patel thousands of dollars to help them obtain a visa. Patel would then pay $5,000

to a law enforcement agent to forge a police report listing the applicant as a victim that could be included with a visa application.

Federal investigators claim Oakdale Police Chief Chad Doyle, Forest Hill Police Chief Glynn Dixon, former Glenmora Police Chief Tebo Onishea and Oakdale Ward 5 Marshal Michael “Freck” Slaney worked with Patel to create the false documents.

Hundreds of visas were granted through the scheme, federal investigators allege. Patel, Doyle, Dixon, Onishea and Slaney all were arrested Tuesday in a sweeping

Livingston Parish board removes library director

BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer

operation that involved about 200 officers from various agencies in multiple locations on charges including visa fraud, mail fraud, bribery and money laundering.

“I’ve worked in federal law enforcement for almost 27 years. I’ve never seen anything quite like this,” said acting U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Louisiana Alexander Van Hook. “We brought these allegations against who we allege to be corrupt ofﬁcials. We are not alleging that these are corrupt police departments.”

The 21-page indictment handed down by a federal grand jury on July 2 lays out 62 total counts against the four defendants.

Standoff suspect pleads not guilty

Lafayette

officer

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

A Jeanerette man pleaded not guilty Wednesday after a grand jury formally charged him in May for the death of Lafayette SWAT ofﬁcer Senior Cpl. Segus Jolivette.

Nyjal Hurst, 32, pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder

The grand jury also charged Hurst with 10 counts of attempted first-degree murder two counts of second-degree kidnapping, one count of felon in possession of a ﬁrearm and illegal possession of a stolen ﬁrearm. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. Hurst is being held on a $19.5 million bail He has been held in the Iberia Parish Jail since the July 2024 shooting.

The incident began on July 25 when the Jeanerette City Marshal’s Office attempted to serve a warrant on Hurst, who then reportedly took two people hostage around 10 a.m. in a mobile home in the 2500 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Later that day, various law enforcement ofﬁcers, including the Lafayette Police Department’s SWAT team, arrived to assist in the recovery of hostages and negotiate Hurst’s surrender Around 4:30 p.m. that day, the standoff escalated into a shooting that resulted in Jolivette‘s death and three other officers being wounded.

The ofﬁcer’s death was the ﬁrst line-of-duty death the department has suffered since the fatal shooting in October 2017 of Cpl. Michael

SUSPECT, page 4A

Trump lashes out over Epstein ﬁles

After a year of political turmoil over Livingston Parish libraries seemed to have faded, the system’s director was ousted at the parish president’s direction at a late-night meeting that also resulted in the board’s leadership quitting Parish President Randy Delatte proposed the removal about 10 p.m. Tuesday to a small crowd at the board’s latest meeting. The board approved his proposal in a 6-4 vote This came after a nearly two-hour private annual performance evaluation of Michelle Parrish, the library director Delatte said issues still exist between the library and the community, such as recent contentious split board votes, despite his recent shake-up of the

Four members resign after voting against firing ä See LIBRARY, page 5A

President calls his own supporters ‘weaklings’

BY JILL COLVIN Associated Press

NEW YORK President Donald Trump is lashing out at his own supporters, accusing them of being duped by Democrats, as he tries to clamp down on criticism over his administration’s handling of much-hyped records in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, which Trump now calls a “Hoax.”

“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this “bull****,” hook, line and sinker,” Trump wrote Wednesday

on his Truth Social site, using an expletive in his post. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.

“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

The rhetoric marks a dramatic escalation for the Republican president, who has broken with some of his most loyal backers on issues in the past, but never with such fervor Though Trump cannot run for another term, he will need strong support from a united party to pass

ä See TRUMP, page 4A

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI

President Donald Trump leaves the East Room of the White House after a signing ceremony on Wednesday.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Eric Delaune speaks during a news conference Wednesday in Lafayette announcing the indictment of five individuals, including law enforcement officers, on fraud and conspiracy charges.

See VISA, page 5A Patel

Execution set for man in shaken baby case

HOUSTON A judge on Wednesday set a new execution date for Robert Roberson, a Texas man who won a last-minute reprieve last year and could become the ﬁrst person in the U.S. to be put to death for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

State district Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set an Oct. 16 execution date for Roberson, who was brought in from death row to attend the hearing in Palestine, Texas. Roberson did not speak during the hearing.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office had requested that the execution date be scheduled. Roberson’s lawyers objected, arguing Roberson still has an appeal pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that his legal team says contains “powerful new evidence of his innocence.” The latest appeal was ﬁled ﬁve months ago.

Roberson, 58, was convicted of the 2002 killing of his 2-yearold daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine. Prosecutors argued he violently shook his daughter back and forth, causing severe head trauma in what’s called shaken baby syndrome.

“At some point we have to say the date needs to be set,” Jackson said.

Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson’s attorneys, argued there was no legal reason to set the execution date but that “perhaps there is a political reason.”

“Right now it makes no practical sense and it makes no moral sense,” Sween said.

Roberson’s legal team said that based on new evidence “no rational juror would ﬁnd Roberson guilty of capital murder; and unreliable and outdated scientiﬁc and medical evidence was material to his conviction.” The new evidence includes statements from pathologists that state the girl’s death was not a homicide and who question the reliability of conclusions by the medical examiner on the cause of death.

Searchers recover 3 who drowned in river at park

MACON, Ga. — The bodies of two young sisters and a man were found Wednesday after they drowned in a river at a middle Georgia park.

Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones told local news outlets that 28-year-old Johnny Collins III, 10-year-old Skyler Worthen and 7-year-old Summer McRae were recovered Wednesday from the Ocmulgee River in Macon. Worthen and McRae, sisters, were swimming at Amerson River Park on Tuesday when they started drifting into the deeper waters. Collins jumped in to help, but all three went underwater and did not come back up.

Ofﬁcials couldn’t immediately conﬁrm the man’s relationship to the children. At least 14 people have drowned at the park since 2009, according to news reports.

Backstreet Boys’ Littrell sues over trespassers

ORLANDO Fla. — Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell says a local Florida sheriff’s ofﬁce isn’t doing enough to protect his multimillion-dollar beachfront property from trespassers and is asking a judge for an order commanding deputies to do so. Under Florida law, any sand on a beach below the high tide water mark is public Many homeowners own the sand down to the average high-water line, though some counties over the decades have passed local ordinances that let the public use otherwise private beaches for sunbathing, ﬁshing and walking if people have historically had access for those purposes.

A spokeswoman for the Walton County Sheriff’s Ofﬁce said Wednesday that the ofﬁce doesn’t comment on pending litigation

Littrell’s company said that chairs, umbrellas and small tables had been put out on the beach, as well as “No Trespassing” signs, to mark it as private property But that effort had been in vain “as numerous trespassers have set out to antagonize, bully, and harass the Littrell family by regularly, every day trespassing,” according to the petition.

States sue FEMA for ending grant program

BY DAVID A. LIEB Associated Press

Twenty Democratic-led states ﬁled suit

Wednesday against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, challenging the elimination of a long-running grant program that helps communities guard against damage from natural disasters.

The lawsuit contends President Donald Trump’s administration acted illegally when it announced in April that it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. FEMA canceled some projects already in the works and refused to approve new ones despite funding from Congress.

“In the wake of devastating ﬂooding in Texas and other states, it’s clear just how critical federal resources are in helping states prepare for and respond to natural disasters,” said Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell of Massachusetts, where the federal lawsuit was ﬁled. “By abruptly and unlawfully shutting down the BRIC program, this administration is abandoning states and local communities that rely on federal funding to protect their residents and, in the event of disaster, save lives.”

FEMA did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment It said in April that the program was “wasteful and ineffective” and “more concerned

with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”

The program, established by a 2000 law, provides grants for a variety of disaster mitigation efforts, including levees to protect against floods, safe rooms to provide shelter from tornadoes, vegetation management to reduce damage from ﬁres and seismic retroﬁtting to fortify buildings for earthquakes.

During his ﬁrst term, Trump signed a law shoring up funding for disaster risk reduction efforts. The program then got a $1 billion boost from an infrastructure law signed by former President Joe Biden. That law requires FEMA to make available at least $200 million annually for disaster mitigation grants for the 2022-26 ﬁscal years, the lawsuit says.

The suit contends the Trump administration violated the constitutional separation of powers because Congress had not authorized the program’s demise. It also alleges the program’s termination was illegal because the decision was made while FEMA was under the leadership of an acting administrator who had not met the requirements to be in charge of the agency

The lawsuit says communities in every state have beneﬁted from federal disaster mitigation grants, which saved lives and spared homes, businesses, hospitals and schools from costly damage.

20 Democratic AGs call for unmasking ICE agents

BY JESSICA HILL Las Vegas Review-Journal (TNS)

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford and a coalition of 19 other attorneys general urged members of Congress to pass legislation prohibiting federal immigration agents from wearing masks to conceal their identity

In a letter sent to members of Congress on Tuesday the attorneys general called for legislation requiring Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) ofﬁcers to show their identiﬁcation and agencyidentifying insignia.

Last week, Democratic Sens. Cory Booker, Alex Padilla and others introduced a bill that would ban immigration enforcement ofﬁcers from wearing masks and requiring them to display identiﬁcation during public-facing immigration enforcement actions.

The attorneys general, all Democrats, criticized ICE’s conduct and expressed concern over masked ofﬁcers dressing in plainclothes and driving in unmarked vehicles while detaining people. They argue those tactics pose safety risks and instill fear rather than promoting public safety

The attorneys general argued that without clear identification from agents, individuals may not recognize them as federal officers and intervene in operations, which could tie up local law enforcement resources or escalate situations They also said the lack of identification of officers could enable individuals to impersonate ICE agents to exploit members of the community Ford said masking of federal agents should be limited to special circumstances because it undermines principles of transparent governance that Americans expect. “For this reason, Congress should act immediately to end these reckless tactics and implement proper accountability to federal immigration enforcement,” Ford said in the statement.

The Better Nevada PAC, a political action committee linked to Republican Gov Jo Lombardo, criticized Ford in a Wednesday statement, calling the attorney general’s push a “disgusting new low.”

“It’s clear that when it comes to protecting our men and women in law enforcement and ensuring public safety, radical political agendas come ﬁrst for Ford,” the committee said in a statement.

Calif. authorities take custody of 21 kids; surrogate moms say couple misled them

BY ED WHITE Associated Press

Twenty-one children are in the custody of a California child-welfare agency while authorities investigate a Los Angeles-area couple and whether they misled surrogate mothers around the country

Fifteen children were removed from the couple’s opulent home in Arcadia after an abuse allegation in May, and another six living elsewhere were also located, Arcadia police Lt. Kollin Cieadlo said. They range in age from 2 months to 13 years, with most between 1 and 3.

“We believe one or two were born biologically to the mother,” he said. “There are some surrogates who have come forward and said they were surrogates for the children.”

Silvia Zhang, 38, and Guojun Xuan, 65, are believed to be the legal parents, Cieadlo said. They were arrested in May after a hospital reported that their 2-month-old

infant had a traumatic head injury, the result of a nanny at the home violently shaking the baby, Arcadia police said. The child was not taken to the hospital for another two days.

Cieadlo said neglect charges were not formally pursued in order for an investigation to continue. The couple told police that they “wanted a large family,” the lieutenant said.

Zhang produced what appeared to be legitimate birth certiﬁcates, including some from outside California, that list her as the mother of the children, Cieadlo said.

TV stations in Los Angeles quoted women who said they were surrogate mothers for the couple but that they didn’t realize so many other surrogates were also involved.

Business records with the California Secretary of State show a company called Mark Surrogacy Investment LLC was previously registered at the couple’s address. The most recent ﬁling shows the business license was terminated in June.

Young dino steals show at auction

Mars meteorite sells for over $5M

BY DAVE COLLINS Associated Press

The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth was sold for just over $5 million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York on Wednesday But a rare young dinosaur skeleton stole the show when it fetched more than $30 million in a bidding frenzy

The 54-pound rock named NWA 16788 was discovered in the Sahara Desert in Niger by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after having been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike and traveling 140 million miles to Earth, according to Sotheby’s The estimated sale price before the auction was $2 million to $4 million.

The identity of the buyer was not immediately disclosed. The final bid was $4.3 million. Adding various fees and costs, the ofﬁcial sale price was about $5.3 million. The live bidding was slow with the auctioneer trying to coax more offers and decreasing the minimum bid increases.

The dinosaur skeleton, on the other hand, sparked a bidding war With a preauction estimate of $4 million to $6 million, it is one of only four known Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeletons and the only juvenile skeleton of the species, which resembles the Tyrannosaurus rex but is smaller

Bidding for the skeleton

started with a high advance offer of $6 million, then escalated during the live round with bids $500,000 higher than the last and later $1 million higher than the last before ending at $26 million. People applauded after the auctioneer gaveled the bidding closed. The official sale price was $30.5 million with fees and costs. That buyer also was not immediately disclosed.

Parts of the skeleton were found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones.

Specialists assembled nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate the skeleton and mounted it so it’s ready to exhibit, Sotheby’s says. It was acquired last year by Fossilogic, a Utahbased fossil preparation and mounting company It’s more than 6 feet tall and nearly 11 feet long, and is believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could grow up to 25 feet long, while the T. rex could be 40 feet long.

The bidding for the Mars meteorite began with two advance offers of $1.9 million and $2 million. The live bidding slowly proceeded with increases of $200,000 and $300,000 until $4 million, then continued with $100,000 increases until reaching $4.3 million. Wednesday’s auction was part of Sotheby’s Geek Week 2025 and featured 122 items, including other meteorites, fossils and gem-quality minerals.

Customer Service: HELP@THEADVOCATE.COMor337-234-0800

News Tips /Stories: NEWSTIPS@THEADVOCATE.COM

Obituaries: 225-388-0289• Mon-Fri9-5; Sat10-5;ClosedSun

Advertising Sales: 337-234-0174•Mon-Fri 8-5

Classiﬁed Advertising: 225-383-0111• Mon-Fri8-5

Subscribe: theadvocate.com/subscribe E-Edition: theadvocate.com/eedition Archives: theadvocate.newsbank.com

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SETH WENIG

A family walks by flood-damaged cars Tuesday in North Plainfield, N.J.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By RICHARD DREW

A mounted juvenile Ceratosaurus skeleton sold at auction Wednesday at Sotheby’s in New york for $26 million.

Trump hosts Gulf leaders at White House

BY CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump hosted a pair of Arab Gulf leaders at the White House on Wednesday as violence between Israel and Syria renewed doubts about his pledge to impose peace on the Middle East.

Trump held a meeting in the Oval

Ofﬁce with Bahrain’s crown prince and was set to have dinner with Qatar’s prime minister

The Republican president has lavished attention on the Persian Gulf, a wealthy region where members of his family have extensive business relationships. He has already visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on the ﬁrst foreign policy trip of his second term.

With little progress to share on the region’s most intractable problems, including the war in Gaza, Trump was more focused Wednesday on promoting diplomatic ties as a vehicle for economic growth

“Anything they needed, we helped them,” Trump said in the Oval Office while meeting with Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. “And anything we needed, they helped us.”

Meeting Bahrain’s crown prince

Bahrain is a longtime ally that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, which

operates in the Middle East.

Like other Arab leaders, Al Khalifa was eager to highlight the lucrative potential of diplomatic ties with the U.S., including $17 billion of investments. “And this is real,” he said. “It’s real money. These aren’t fake deals.”

According to the White House, the agreements include purchasing American airplanes, jet engines and computer servers More investments could be made in alu-

minum production and artificial intelligence.

Bahrain’s king, the crown prince’s father, is expected to visit Washington before the end of the year

An important part of the relationship will be an agreement, signed Wednesday, to advance cooperation on civilian nuclear energy

Dinner with Qatari prime minister

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the prime min-

ister of Qatar and a member of the country’s ruling family, was scheduled to attend a private dinner with Trump on Wednesday evening.

Trump visited Qatar during his trip to the region, marveling at its palaces and stopping at the Al Udeid Air Base, a key U.S. military facility

Trump wants to use a luxurious Boeing 747 donated by Qatar as his Air Force One because he’s tired of waiting for Boeing to ﬁnish new

planes. However the arrangement has stirred concerns about security and the ethics of accepting a gift from a foreign government.

Aaron David Miller, who served as an adviser on Middle East issues to Democratic and Republican administrations, said the Gulf nation “represents everything that Trump believes is right about the Middle East.”

“It’s rich, it’s stable, it’s populated by authoritarians with whom the president feels very comfortable,” he said.

Fighting in Syria

The ﬁghting in Syria began with clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze factions in the country’s south. Government forces intervened, raising alarms in Israel, where the Druze are a politically inﬂuential religious minority.

On Wednesday, Israel launched strikes in the Syrian capital of Damascus. A ceaseﬁre was later announced, but it was unclear if it would hold.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in the Oval Ofﬁce for Trump’s meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain, said the ﬁghting was the result of “an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding.” He said “we think we’re on our way to a real de-escalation” that would allow Syria to “get back on track” to rebuilding after years of civil war

Another key ally quits Netanyahu’s governing coalition

BY TIA GOLDENBERG Associated Press

TELAVIV,Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suffered a major political blow on Wednesday as a key governing partner announced it was quitting his coalition government, leaving him with a minority in parliament as the country faces a litany of challenges.

Shas, an ultra-Orthodox party that has long served as kingmaker in Israeli politics, announced that it would bolt the government over disagreements surrounding a proposed law that would enshrine broad military draft exemptions for its constituents the second ultraOrthodox governing party to do so this week.

“In this current situation,

it’s impossible to sit in the government and to be a partner in it,” Shas Cabinet minister Michael Malkieli said in announcing the party’s decision

But Shas said it would not undermine Netanyahu’s coalition from the outside and could vote with it on some legislation, granting Netanyahu a lifeline in what would otherwise make governing almost impossible and put his lengthy rule at risk.

Once their resignations come into effect, Netanyahu’s coalition will have 50 seats in the 120-seat parliament.

No immediate collapse

Netanyahu’s rule, for now, doesn’t appear threatened.

Once Shas’ resignations are put forward, there’s a 48-

hour window before they become ofﬁcial, which gives him a chance to salvage his government.

The party’s announcement also comes just before lawmakers recess for the summer, granting Netanyahu several months of little to no legislative activity to bring the parties back into the fold with a possible compromise on the draft law

But if the coalition isn’t shored up by the time the Knesset reconvenes in the fall, it could signal that Israel may be headed to early elections, which are currently scheduled for October 2026.

The political instability comes at a pivotal time for Israel, which is negotiating with Hamas on the terms for a U.S.-backed ceaseﬁre pro-

20 killed as crowd surges at aid site run by Israeli-backed group

BY MELANIE LIDMAN, WAFAA SHURAFA, and JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel Twenty Palestinians were killed at a food distribution center run by an Israeli-backed American organization in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, mostly from being trampled, the group said. They were the ﬁrst deaths reported at one of the group’s sites, though hundreds have been killed by Israeli forces on the roads leading to them, according to witnesses and health ofﬁcials.

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 54 others, including 14 children according to hospital ofﬁcials.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation accused the Hamas militant group of fomenting unrest at the food distribution center, causing the stampede. For the ﬁrst time since its operations began in May, “a large number” of people in the crowd were armed with pistols, GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay told reporters. He said an American medic was stabbed and wounded.

GHF said the Israeli

military had warned it on Wednesday that Hamas had infiltrated the crowd, but did not provide evidence for any Hamas presence, aside from a photo of a pistol that it said one of its contractors had conﬁscated. As law and order have broken down after months of war, Gaza has seen the rise of criminal gangs and tribal groups that carry weapons and steal and resell aid.

Witnesses said GHF guards threw stun grenades and used pepper spray on people pressing to get into the site before it opened, causing a panic in the narrow, fenced-in entrance.

GHF said it believed that 19 of the dead died from trampling at its food distribution center between the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah and one was killed by a stabbing in the crowd The Gaza Health Ministry said 17 people suffocated at the site and three others were shot. It was not clear if the shootings took place during the crush or earlier on the road to the center.

Witnesses said Israeli troops ﬁred toward the crowds as

they headed to it. GHF said a contractor fired warning shots in the air in order to rescue a child from the stampede.

In videos obtained recently by The Associated Press from an American contractor working with GHF contractors are seen using tear gas and stun grenades to keep crowds back behind metal fences or to force them to disperse. Gunshots can also be heard.

The United Nations human rights office said Tuesday that 875 Palestinians were killed while seeking food since May Of those, 674 were killed while en route to GHF food sites. The rest were reportedly killed while waiting for aid trucks entering Gaza.

Israeli strikes killed 22 people in Gaza City including 11 children and three women, and 19 others in Khan Younis. Strikes in central Gaza killed 13 people, including three children.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that hospitals have received a total of 94 bodies over the past 24 hours, with another 252 wounded.

Mayor candidate changes stance on ‘globalize the intifada’

New york Daily News (TNS)

NEW YORK New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani, who faced ﬁerce backlash after declining to condemn the phrase

“globalize the intifada,” told a group of business leaders this week he decided to discourage its use. Mamdani came under

ﬁre for not condemning the phrase at the tail end of the primary election, and he has faced accusations that this stance bolstered Jewish hate and antisemitism Partnership for New York CEO Kathy Wylde whose group hosted Tuesday’s sitdown, said Mamdani informed the audience of executives that he’d had a change of heart on the contentious phrase after speaking with a Jewish woman recounting a bombing attack in Israel. (Mamdani) said he would discourage the use of that phrase because it suggests a statement of supporting violence against Jews,” Wylde said. “He said that he had

a conversation with a Jewish woman who said it triggered memories of a bombing of a restaurant, and he realized it meant something different to the Jewish community.” Mamdani ﬁrst came under ﬁre last month after he was asked on a podcast whether the phrase made him uncomfortable. He responded that, although he doesn’t use the phrase, his takeaway from it was that there is “desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”

posal for Gaza. Shas’ decision isn’t expected to derail the talks.

But with a fracturing coalition, Netanyahu will feel more pressure to appease his other governing allies, especially the influential far-right ﬂank, which opposes ending the 21-month war in Gaza so long as Hamas remains intact. They have threatened to quit the government if it does end.

The embattled Netanyahu is on trial for alleged corruption, and critics say he wants to hang on to power so that he can use his ofﬁce as a bully pulpit to rally supporters and lash out against

prosecutors and judges

That makes him all the more vulnerable to the whims of coalition allies.

Exemptions divide Israel

On Tuesday, the ultraOrthodox United Torah Judaism party said it was quitting over Netanyahu’s failure to pass a law on the military draft exemptions. Military service is compulsory for most Jewish Israelis, and the issue of exemptions has long divided the country Those rifts have widened since the start of the war in Gaza as demand for military manpower has grown and hundreds of sol-

diers have been killed. A decades-old arrangement by Israel’s ﬁrst prime minister granted hundreds of ultra-Orthodox men exemptions from compulsory Israeli service. Over the years, those exemptions ballooned into the thousands. The ultra-Orthodox say their men are serving the country by studying sacred Jewish texts and preserving centuries’ old tradition. But most Jewish Israelis see the exemption as unfair, as well as the generous government stipends granted to many ultra-Orthodox men who study instead of work throughout adulthood.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALEX BRANDON

President Donald Trump, right, and Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa speak Wednesday in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

his remaining legislative agenda in anarrowly divided Congress and an energized base to turn out in next year’s midtermelections.

Dangleddocuments

Theschism centers on the Trump administration’shandling of documents related to Epstein, who wasfound dead in his New York jail cell in August 2019,weeks after hisarrest on sextrafficking charges. Last week, the Justice Department and the FBI acknowledged in a memo that Epstein did not maintaina“client list” to whom underage girls were trafficked. Theyalsosaidno more files related to the investigation would be made public, despite past promises from AttorneyGeneral Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracytheorists.

“It’sanew administration, and everything is going to come out to the public,” she had said.

Thereversal sparked fury among Trump’smost loyal defenders, who have turned on Bondi, in particular.But Trump has repeatedly said he maintains conﬁdencein his attorneygeneraland had instead chided those who continue to pressthe issue.

“I don’tunderstand what the interest or what the fascination is,” he said Tuesday,after unsuccessfully urging his “‘boys’ and,in some cases, ‘gals’ ”tostop wasting “Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.” In an Oval Ofﬁce appearance Wednesday after the Truth post, Trump made clear that he was done with the story and said he had “lost alot of faith in certain people.”

“It’sall beenabig hoax,” he toldreporters.“It’sperpetrated by the Democrats, and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net.” He complained that Bondi has been “waylaid”over her handling of thecaseand has given out all “credible information” about the wealthy

SUSPECT

Continued from page1A

Middlebrook.

Though not substantiated by ofﬁcial sources, amedia report and sources involved in the shootingsuggested that Jolivette died from a fellow SWAT ofﬁcer’sbullet.

Jolivette’swife, Alexis Jolivette, acknowledged that Hurst did not directly kill Jolivette in aMay appearance in front of the Louisiana House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee. Hurst’snextcourtdateis scheduled forOct. 20 in Iberia Parish.

Email StephenMarcantel at stephen.marcantel@ theadvocate.com.

ﬁnancier.“If she ﬁndsany more credible information she’ll give that, too,”Trump said. ”What more can she do thanthat?”

Trump and many ﬁgures in his administration,including FBI Director Kash Pateland hisdeputy, Dan Bongino, have spent years stokingdarkand disproved conspiracy theories like those surroundingEpstein, including embracing QAnon-tinged propaganda that castsTrump as asavior sent to demolish the “deep state.”

Angerstill brewing Trump’scomments have notbeen enough to quell those who are still demandinganswers.Some of the podcasters and pro-Trump influencers whohelped

rally support forTrump in the 2024 campaign said Wednesday they were disappointed or puzzled by his comments.

Far-right conspiracy theorist and podcaster Alex Jones called Trump’s handling of the Epstein situation “thebiggesttrain wreck I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s not in character for youtobeactinglike this,” he said in avideoTuesday. “I supportyou, butwebuilt themovement you rode in on.You’re notthe movement. Youjust surfed in on it.”

Benny Johnson, aconservative podcaster,saidon his show that he is afan of Trump’smovementbut is trying to “give tough love andspeak on behalf of the base.”

“Maybe it hasn’tbeen framed correctly for the president,” Johnson said. “I don’tknow.”

HouseSpeaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton,inaninterview on Johnson’sshow Tuesday, hadcalled for the Justice Departmentto“put everything outthereand let thepeople decide.”

His first-term national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, implored Trumpinalengthy message to correct course.

“All we wantatthis stage is for amodicum of trust to be reestablishedbetween ourfederal government

andthe people it is designed to serve. That’sall (PERIOD!),” he wrote. “With my strongest recommendation, pleasegatheryour team andﬁgure outa way to move past this.”

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on his podcast attemptedsomedamagecontrol on Trump’sbehalf.

“Don’ttake too seriously this whole Truth Social here,” Kirk told his audience. “I knowsome people aregetting firedupabout this. Idon’t believe he was trying to insult anybody personally.”

He also offered amessage to Trump. “The grassroots is not trying to make youlook bad,” he said. “Wewanttotry and make sure the bad people that have done such terrible things to you can ﬁnally be held accountable.”

Other Trump allieshave stuck by his side, suggesting he does notneed the inﬂuencers who have capitalizedonEpstein conspiracy theories to make money and earnviewers.

“He lent youhis clout and voters,” Brenden Dilley,the head of agroup of meme makers who have lent their support to Trump, wrote on XonWednesday. “They don’tbelongtoyou.” Broaderdisapproval

While thosespeaking out represent afringe of Trump’smost vocalonline base, they arenot theonly ones dissatisfiedwiththe government’shandling of theEpstein case,according to recent polling.

ACNN/SSRS poll, forinstance, found that about half of U.S. adults are not satisﬁed with the amount of information the federal government has released about theEpsteincase. About 3 in 10 saiditdoesn’tmatter either way and about 2in 10 didn’tknow enough to offeranopinion.Almostno one said they were satisﬁed with the amount of information released.

Looking ahead to 2026 midterm elections, some Democrats are clear-eyed that the Epstein files may not be afront-and-center issue for voters who tend to puta premium on kitchen table issues, but they see it as part of abroader pattern that couldhamper Trump and the GOP.

“There is something breaking through to votersgetting at this ideaof aRepublican Party working forthese big, corrupt, wealthy,famous people and not fighting for their constituents,” said Katarina Flicker,ofthe House Majority PAC, Democrats’ superPAC for congressional races.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByJACQUELyN MARTIN

Attorney General PamBondi speaks to reporters last month as PresidentDonald Trump looks on. Last week, the Justice Department and theFBI said in amemo that JeffreyEpstein didnot maintain a‘client list’ to whom underagegirls were traffi

Each defendant is facing one countofconspiracy to commit visa fraud.

Additionally, Patelfaces one count of bribery,24 counts of mailfraud and eight counts of money laundering.

Doyle and Dixon each additionally face six countsof visafraud, six counts of mail fraud andone count of money laundering. Slaney also faces six counts of visa fraud, six counts of mail fraud and two counts of money laundering. Onishea also faces six counts of visa fraud and six counts of mail fraud.

The defendants and their attorneys could notimmediately be reachedfor comment.

Amultiagency investigation, which included the FBI, Homeland Security and the InternalRevenue Service, began in July 2024. Atip ﬁrst came in to Homeland Security.Van Hook would not say how investigators became aware of the scheme, but thinks it has been ongoing since December 2015.

Investigators allege that the conspiracy centered aroundcreating falsepolice reports for foreign nationals to apply for the “U nonimmigrant status visa,” or “U visa.”

AUvisa, established in 2000, is designed to protect victims or witnesses of certain crimes. It also extends to their family members.The idea is that victims or witnesses granted aUvisa will then help law enforcement in their investigation and prosecution of the crime.

When status is granted,a Uvisaisvalid for four years, but extensions are available, including if there’sarequest from law enforcementorifa person has ﬁled for agreen card Thoseseeking avisa would give thousands of dollars to Patel, who owns convenience stores andafastfood restaurant in Oakdale and Glenmore.Patelwould then pay law enforcement

LIBRARY

Continued from page1A

Library Board.

“The only constant that we have is Michelle. We still have the same issues,” he said.

Parrish took the helm in 2023 after her predecessor, Giovanni Tairov,unexpectedly resigned after months of commotion surrounding content restrictions for minors. He had served as director for more than 10 years. In the immediate wake of his departure, the assistantdirector resigned, leading Parrish, then a branchmanager, to step up Parrish’s removalonTuesday came as ashock to some residents and board members. Hours earlier,board president Jennifer Dorhauer said the private evaluation session would not elicit any decision, which no one outright disagreed with.

“I thought there would be no actionable issue once we went into executive session,” Dorhauer said.“I could block his motioncurrently, but(Parrish) has requested that we go ahead and vote on this.”

Some parish residents and ousted board members have consistently called for new leadership during previous library meetings.

Former boardmember Summer Smith thankedDelatte for his motion.

“The library alliances throughout every parishthat I’ve been payingattention to are very,very horrible,” she said. “Yeah, we’ve had some pretty bad goes at it sitting on this board, andIknowit had to do with the leadership in our library.”

Parish Council member Erin Sandefur mentioned how she has seen completely different boards in the past few years but believesthe most recent one has agreat group. At least 10 board members have resigned or been removed by the Parish Council since summer 2024.

“Theone constant is the director,” she said. “We’ve

officers $5,000tofalsify a report listing the person as a victim.Eachreportinvestigated in this case listed several victims, VanHook told reporters Wednesday.

“There was an unusual concentration of armed robberiesofpeople who were notfromLouisiana in some of our smaller communities in Louisiana,” he said. Hundreds of visas were granted throughthe scheme, VanHook said. He didnot know how the applicants were connected to Patel. As the investigationcontinues, applicants will be questioned about what they knew about the schemeand if they thought it was legitimate.

Patel himselfwas granted aUvisa in 2023 because of an armed robbery,according to the federal indictment. It does not state whether that incidentwas

“Michelle has guided this librarysystem through political attacks, budget battles, book challenges and disinformation campaigns.Through it all, shehas remained professional, transparent and focused on serving the people.”

WADE MCCALLISTER, Livingston Parish resident

changedthe board. Somethingisclearly wrong.”

During public comment, some residents made pleas to the board to notremove Parrish. They said the same issues will still exist, regardless of whetherthere is a newdirector

Parish resident Wade McCallister saidParrish’s evaluation should not be political but basedoff herperformance.

“Michelle hasguided this library system throughpolitical attacks, budget battles, book challenges and disinformation campaigns. Throughitall, she has remained professional, transparent and focused on servingthe people,” McCallister said.

Former boardmember Francine Smith said Parrish’spredecessor,Tairov, waspushedout becauseof drama, andbelieves removingParrish is abad idea.

“I worked with Michelle when Iwas on thelibrary board, and she tried really hard to be agood leader,but there were peoplewho were literally trying to undermine her,”she said. Parrish called for the vote on her removal.

Board members Jonathan Davis, Kristan Whann,Sheila Goins, DeWanna Christian,TreyCowelland Delattevoted yes. Dorhauer, board Vice PresidentBecky Morgan and board members Patricia Wilsonand Rodlyn Hammond voted no. With the ﬁnal vote,Parrish said,“My chapter is done,” and walked outofthe meetingroom

fabricated.

Yearlong investigation

The yearlong investigation was complex, VanHook. It involved tracking ﬁnancial transitions, covertlypulling police reports andsurveillance, includingelectronic surveillance, he said.

“It really brought allthe tools of law enforcement to solve asigniﬁcant problem,” he said.

In aFebruary incident, which is the impetusofthe bribery charge against Patel, thebusiness owner tried to pay aRapides Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce agent to falsify apolice report. At that point, the Sheriff’sOffice was working with federal investigators and the visa application was not submitted Federal prosecutorsare seeking to have thousands of dollars’ worthofassets

The four board members who voted no, including the president and vicepresident, promptlyresigned from theboardand walked out behind Parrish. Library assistant directorsDustin Cotton and Julia Falcon arenow the acting library directors. Both were adamantthatnot only did they not want to step into Parrish’s role, butthatthey were not best suited for the job

“I do nothave avision to movethis system forward. I am awork horsenot ashow horse,” Cotton said. Falcon toldthe board she does “not want to be theinterim director.Iknownothing about ﬁnance …the budget is coming up. Iamnot up for thetask.”

Along withnew library system leadership, theremaining ﬁve board members and Delatte,asanexofficioboardmember,swiftly elected newboard leadership.Davis is presidentand Whann is vice president. The board’snew leadership said they will have ameeting soon to discuss next steps. After themeeting, Delatte saidhehad come to this decision only recently, after learning aboutthe annual evaluation afew weeks ago. He saidhedoes notknow how he will handle thecommunity’sresponse to this “It’sanemotional thing. It’s gotmechokedup,”he said.

Email Claire Grunewald at claire.grunewald@ theadvocate.com.

seized from the defendants

They claim that dozens of bank accountswere opened and propertyand vehicles werepurchased withthe proﬁtsofthe scheme.

“Weexpect law enforcement to protect the public and to honor their trust,” saidFBI Special Agent in Charge Johnathan Tapp, “not to sell that trust and the honor of their badges for personal gifts.”

Afterthe indictment was handed down by thegrand jury,investigators prepared to arrest the defendants and conductsearches of places they allege held evidence of thescheme —all at once.

Armed law enforcement officers descended on the CrownePlaza Hotel in Baton Rouge on Tuesday to arrest Doyle andDixon while they were attending alaw enforcementconference. Van

Hook said they “were not expecting resistance but we planned forcontingencies.” Patel, Slaneyand Onishea werearrested elsewhere.

At thesame time, about 200 lawenforcementofficers executed 11 search warrants andseveral searches in connection with the case, saidHomeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Eric Delaune.

What happens next

The defendants madeﬁrst appearances in federal court Tuesday, VanHook said.Alexandria federal Judge Jerry Edwards Jr.ispresiding over the case.

VanHook said prosecutors asked that Patel be detained until trial because of his connections outside of the U.S. The other defendants were released until trial.

If convicted, each defen-

dant could face decades in prison. Patel could be deported, VanHook said. The case and ongoing investigationare important to the community andthe nation, VanHook said. And the arrests are an important step in restoring thepublic’strust in theirlocal law enforcement agencies. He is unsureifPresident Donald Trump, who has long alleged there is fraud and abuse in the U.S. immigration system,isawareofthe case, but VanHook reported the investigation to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“I hope the president will be pleasedwiththe work that we’ve done,” VanHook said. “It certainly is in line with his priorities.”

Email AshleyWhiteat ashley.white@theadvocate. com.

STAFFPHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON President

Donald Trump on Wednesday signed legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy that gives law enforcement another tool to go after those who illegallysell fentanyl.

Surroundedbyfamily

members holding portraits of people who died from fentanyl overdoses, Trump signed Halt All LethalTrafficking Fentanyl Act, or HALTFentanyl Act, during aceremony in the White House East Room.

Trumpthanked Cassidy, RBaton Rouge, who sat in the front row along with other senators involved in passing thelegislation.

Trumpsigns fentanyl bill sponsoredbyCassidy into law

Gov.Jeff Landry also attended the ceremony Cassidy said Tuesday the cartels that sellfentanyl often slightly change the formula so that technically the drugsold is not the

Jill Bidenaideinvokes Fifthtodecline testimonyinRepublicaninvestigation

BY MATT BROWN Associated Press

WASHINGTON Aformer senior

aide to Jill Biden on Wednesday became thesecondpersontoinvoke the Fifth Amendment and decline to answer questions from House Republicans who are investigating President JoeBiden’smental state and use of the autopen while in ofﬁce.

Anthony Bernal, who previously served as chiefofstaff to former ﬁrst lady Jill Biden, was subpoenaedfor his testimonyby the House Oversight Committee. He declined to answer questions, invoking the protections that prevent people from being forced to testify against themselves in government proceedings.

“Well, unfortunately,thatwas quick,” said Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, after the deposition ended.

“I believe the American people are concerned. They’re concerned that there were people making decisions in the White Housethat were not only unelected butnoone

to this dayknows whothey were.” Bernal ignored questionsfrom reporters. He was accompanied by hislawyer,Jonathan Su, who was adeputy White House counselto theformerpresident.Suina statement provided to thecommittee noted that pleading theFifth is not evidence of wrongdoing.

In arecent interviewwiththe New York Times, Bidensaidthat he delegated responsibilitieswhen necessary aspresident but was actively involved and knowledgeable of all of his administration’sactions, including on granting clemency.“Iconsciouslymade all those decisions,” Biden said.

Comer hashas sought testimony from nearly adozen former Biden aides as he conducts his investigation,including former White House chiefs of staff Ron Klain and Jeff Zients; former senior advisers Mike Donilon andAnita Dunn; former deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed, former counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti,formerdeputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini and aformer assistant to the president, Ashley Williams.

Democratshave been dismissive of the Republican probe as merepolitical theater.“They still look likelosers,” saidRep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who sat in on Bernal’scommittee deposition. But many Republicanssee the investigation as atop priority for their caucusand apoliticallysalient issue for voters ahead of the midtermelection.

Rep.Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who sat in on Bernal’sdeposition, said “every member of theBiden administration,atthis point,needs to be subpoenaed,” includingVice President Kamala Harrisand Jill Biden.

Comer did not rule out seeking testimony from Harris or members of Biden’sfamily

“We’re going to bring in everyone. We’removing up theline,” Comer said. “We’ve started with thelower level staffers that we thinkwerethe ones that actually put the documentsinthe autopen andpressed power.Now we’re movinguptothe people that we thinktold the staffers to use the autopen.”

change it just alittle bit, if it addicts, if it kills, if it looks like it,tastes like it,smells like it, it’sstill fentanyl. And you will be prosecuted,” Cassidy said.

Illegalfentanyl is largely manufactured in Mexico from raw materials supplied by China. Some of the parents addressedthe audience about the loss of their children.

Anne Fenton, wholost her sontofentanyl, said, “in the last four years, fentanyl has become theNo. 1killerof children.”

Drug overdoses, largely driven by fentanyl, are the leadingcause of death amongadults18to45years old. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl account for68% of the total U.S. overdose deaths.

In 2023, there were an estimated 107,543 drug overdose deaths—74,702 of which were attributed to

fentanyl, according to the U.S. Centers forDisease Control and Prevention. TheSenatebillhad 31 cosponsors, including Sen. John Kennedy,R-Madisonville. The House version had 61 co-sponsors, including Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette. “I’m proud to work with President Trump to get resultsthatmatter forLouisianafamilies,” saidCassidy in astatement released by his campaign committee afterthe event. “Together, we’re cracking down on fentanyl, cutting reckless spending,creating better jobs, making America healthy again, and securing our border.That’sthe kind of conservative leadership people expect, and it’swhat we’re delivering.”

Email Mark Ballardat mballard@theadvocate. com.

‘Recession pop,’Christian music surge; streaminggrowthslows

BY MARIASHERMAN AP music writer

NEW YORK Halfwaythrough 2025, afew music trends have become clear,according to Luminate’s2025 Midyear Report, whichwas released Wednesday: In the U.S. and globally,more music is being streamed than ever before, but growth has slowed, and in the U.S. speciﬁcally,there’s been aresurgence in Christian music and “recession pop.”

In its midyear report, Luminate, an industry data and analytics company,providesinsight into changing behaviors across music listenership.

Global on-demand audio streamsreached 2.5 trillion in the ﬁrst half of 2025 —upfrom2.29 trillion in thesameperiod last year.And in the U.S., on-demand audio streams grew to 696.6 billion in 2025, compared to 665.8 billion in 2024. Butthe rate of growth is slowingdown. In 2024, U.S. andglobal on-demand audio streams grew 8% and 15.1%,respectively In 2025,those numbers have

dropped to 4.6% and 10.3%.

In the U.S., streaming accounts for 92% of allmusic consumption.On-demand streamswere up in 2025 as physical and digital album sales dropped.

R&B/hip-hop remains the most popular genre in termsofondemand audio streaming volume Though streams of new music —music released in the last 18 months —are slightly down from the same time last year,new Christian/gospel music has deﬁed thattrend, said Jaime Marconette, Luminate’svicepresident of music insights and industry relations. He attributed the genre’s growth to “younger,streamingforward fanbase,” which is 60% female and 30% millennial. “Recession pop” —the term forupbeat hits like Kesha’s“Tik Tok,” Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.”and othercarefreepop music that emerged in 2007-12 around the time of the Great Recession —has also seen ajump this year.Luminate found that U.S. on-demand audio streams of popmusic from that era have increased 6.4% in 2025.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI

System could drop 8 inches of rain

Storms threaten area through Saturday

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

A disorganized low-pressure system in the northern Gulf of Mexico continues to present a possible rain and ﬂood threat to Acadiana, especially through Friday.

Most of Acadiana can expect to receive at least 2 inches to 4 inches of rainfall between Thursday and Saturday, meteorologist Donald Jones, of the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, said Wednesday afternoon.

The Lafayette area may be in the highest-risk zone, where as much as 8 inches of rain is forecast.

The ﬂash ﬂood risk could be even greater if a rain band stalls in an area, dumping 12 to 15 inches of rain in localized spots, Jones said.

Any location could receive isolated heavier rainfall of 10 inches or more, particularly Thursday evening into Friday morning, Doug Cramer, warning coordination meteorologist with the weather service, said Wednesday afternoon.

Models on Wednesday suggested the storm system will hug the coastline until it moves inland in south Louisiana Thursday evening and eventually dissipate, Jones said.

Most of the parishes in Acadiana, including Lafayette, Iberia, Acadia, Evangeline, St Landry, St. Martin, St Mary and Vermilion, are under a ﬂood watch from 7 a.m. Thursday until 7 p.m. Saturday

“We’re thinking rain should end in all areas by Saturday evening,” Cramer said.

Forecasters are not expecting the extensive, widespread flooding that occurred over much of the state in 2016, Jones said. But isolated areas, not necessarily those that ﬂooded in 2016, could see waters inundating just as bad.

The storm is not expected to produce strong wind or tornadoes and storm surge isn’t likely without strong winds, Jones said.

Ofﬁcials began making preparations on Monday to lower water levels in the Vermilion River, since most of Lafayette’s coulees empty into it.

The Vermilion River at Surrey Street was at 5.25 feet at

ä See RAIN, page 4B

Lafayette Consolidated Government employees, fill sandbags for residents Wednesday at the public sandbagging site on Dugas Road in Lafayette.

Colleen Narido, chief operations officer for

her donations Wednesday during a

Disaster Response Warehouse in

Helping hands

Volunteers bring relief and hope to Texas flood victims

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

At Catholic Charities of Acadiana’s Regional Disaster Response Warehouse, volunteers of all ages were on deck Wednesday, collecting, sorting and packaging donations from a steady line of cars.

From 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., donors dropped off essential items at the warehouse such as trash bags, laundry detergent, diapers, cleaning supplies and Visa gift cards in an effort to support survivors of the ﬂooding in Texas. The drive focused on speciﬁc items to address the exact needs identified by partner agencies serving the affected communities.

See HELPING, page 4B

Groups challenge proposed voting map

City Council to weigh new districts

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

The Abbeville City Council will decide whether to approve a new voting district map at a future council meeting.

However, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Vermilion Parish NAACP stated at a Tuesday council meeting that the city’s newly proposed map still fell short and deviated more from the map the local civil rights group had presented to the council.

“We want the community and the people who are interested in asking their elected ofﬁcials, ‘Why are you voting in ways that do not give people equal voting representation?’” Ahmed Soussi, senior staff attorney at the law center, said.

The council’s decision to move the vote to a future meeting comes on the heels of a 2023 lawsuit by

the center that aimed to block a redistricting map that the City Council approved in December 2022. The national civil rights group claimed it violated the 14th Amendment’s one-person, onevote requirement.

Jordan Henagan, a lawyer representing the city, argued that the new map falls within the legally accepted deviation.

“This map remedies some of the issues that the court saw with our prior City Council district map,” Henagan said. “I feel that a judge would certainly determine that it is constitutional.”

Soussi disagreed, noting that the city’s map deviated at most by 200 people compared to the NAACP’s map, which deviated by 20.

The NAACP’s map has the bonus feature of unpacking District B, which is 70% Black, while maintaining a minority-majority district — something the city’s map does not address, he said.

Popular wings spot announces new location

KOK to open in former Hooters in south Lafayette

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

KOK Wings & Things, a popular purveyor of chicken wings, loaded fries and other bar food items near the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, has announced it will open its second Lafayette location on the south side of town. In an announcement video posted to social media on July 7, the owners of Kitchen on Klinton shared that their new restaurant will be located at 3221 Ambassador Caffery Parkway the site of a former Hooters location, next to Premier’s Acadiana Lanes. They have not announced a timeline for opening the new location, which will be the fourth brick-and-mortar restaurant, with other sites in New Iberia, Baton Rouge and the original location at 405 E. University Ave., Lafayette, which has been open

Lafayette

& Things announces its fourth location, the second in Lafayette, at the former Hooters restaurant at 3221 Ambassador Caffery Parkway.

since 2018.

“You all have brought us from the back of our home while attending college in 2016, to 2018 when we opened our ﬁrst brickand-mortar location,” said Corey McCoy, CEO, in the new location announcement video. “Since then, we’ve been through challenges and triumphs, and now, we’re thrilled to announce we’ll be opening on the south side of Lafayette.”

PROVIDED PHOTO

restaurant KOK Wings

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK Allen Fontnett, left, and Michael Carriere,

STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Catholic Charities of Acadiana, center, and MJ Narido, 13, help Renee Prevost unload

supply drive to aid recent Texas flood victims at the Catholic Charities of Acadiana Regional

Lafayette.

Volunteer Ben Boudreaux, 6, helps sort donations Wednesday for Texas flood victims.

OUR

VIEWS

Seafood labelinga good idea that’s gaining steam

Louisiana’sseafood producers havelong braved harsh conditions to bring their catches to ourplates. Aside from thehazardsofthe job, they have also had to navigateincreasingly challenging market conditionsoverthe past two decades as cheap imports have ﬂooded the U.S., pushing down prices. Since 2021, the U.S. shrimp industryhas lost almosthalfofits market value, according to the Southern Shrimp Alliance.

But our seafood industry is nothing if not resourceful. In recent years, it has begun to ﬁght back with avariety of tactics, frompushing federal legislation to crack down on illegal imports to making surelocal festivalshighlight local seafood.

One strategy that is increasingly gaining traction is more stringent labelingofdomesticand foreign seafood. Louisianahas been aleader in this effort, passing its first lawrequiringlabels disclosing theoriginofthe seafood on packaged shrimp and crawfish and on restaurant menus in 2019. An updated law,passed in 2024, went into effect in January.Itadds heavier finesfor lawbreakers and gives new enforcement power to the state Department of Healthand theLouisianaDepartment of Agriculture andForestry. It also goes aftermisleading packaging thatuses Louisiana images or styles for productsthatare not caught in Louisiana.

Other Gulf Coast stateshave taken note, and some have beguntopass labelingrequirements of their own. An Alabama law that went into effect in 2024 requires labelingofany fish or shellfish by country of origin or noticethatitis imported. Mississippi’slaw on seafood labeling that went intoeffect July 1requires all seafood or crawfish sold in thestatetobelabeled“imported” or “domestic.” The TexasLegislature alsopassed alabeling law thatwill go into effect on Sept. 1and requires all shrimpsold in Texas to bear a“clear and conspicuousnotice” of whether it is foreign or domestic.

This is one effort we’d like to seegonational.

It’snot justamatter of boosting alocal product,those in theindustry say.Consumers deserve to know because some foreign imports come from aquaculture facilities thatoftenuse antibiotics and hormones.

We know some restaurants andgrocersmay balk at the added step of labelingseafood. And it’s true that some consumers won’tcareand just want the cheapest product available. We also know that, given thecare we Louisianans take in making ourgumbos, jambalayas and other dishes, we wantthe best seafood we canafford. And we certainly wanttoknow that when we pay for Gulf shrimp,we’re getting Gulf shrimp Given the choice, we believemost people will supportour ﬁshers andshrimpers. Strong seafood labeling laws let us know where their products are —and aren’t. The rest isuptoall of us.

GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence

Cassidyneeds to stand with TrumponMedicare

Recently,Sen. BillCassidy madeheadlines for proposing Medicare cuts as part of the president’sOne Big Beautiful Bill —speciﬁcally cuts to Medicare Advantage, the Medicare program thatsomany Louisianans depend on. Fortunately,President Donald Trump nixed the idea, but Sen. Cassidy has said he’ll try again later Respectfully,the senator should reconsider According to Sen. Cassidy,his No UPCODE Actattempts to save the federal government $270 billion over tenyears by eliminating wasteand fraud in Medicare Advantage.That sounds like agood idea, but Sen. Cassidy’sproposal is abridge too far thatwould actually result in higher costsand reduced beneﬁts for Louisiana seniors who are using Medicare Advantage as itsarchitects intended.

Medicare Advantage reﬂectsthe very market-based, choice-driven principles

thatRepublicans support. It hasdelivered quality care for seniors and real savings for taxpayers —more than $140 billion over the past decade —all while giving seniors the freedom to choose the coverage thatbest ﬁtstheir needs. President Trump knows how importantMedicare Advantage is to America’sseniors, which is whyhe said he wouldn’tstandfor any Medicare cutsinhis signature tax bill.

We’vealready seen what Medicare Advantage cuts can do: Joe Biden tried it,and it led to coverage disruptions, higher costs and reduced beneﬁts forseniors. That’sbad policy and bad politics. IhopeSen.Cassidy won’ttry to go down this road again.

Sen. Cassidy should help President Trump keep his promise to seniors —by strengthening and protecting Medicare Advantage.

STEVENRISHER Denham Springs

Whyare representativesafraidtostand up to tyranny?

Iworry about theAmerica that you and Igrew up in. Your kids and grandkids will grow up in acountry ruledbyagovernment you and Iwould not recognize Who knew that ourdemocracy could be fragile enough to be degraded into a budding dictatorship in just six months? Please, don’tsay you can’tsee it happening. Look out your window,listen to the news fromalmostany channel. Many others see it too.

Listedbelow areafew similaritiesthe present administration and the rather well-known administration of Adolf Hitler have in common.

Hitler’swordwas above the law Hitler’stop-level appointees pledged allegiance to Hitler,not the Constitution. In this administrationthe appointees are megadonors, lawyers and cronies from Trump’sprivate life, and Fox News employees, 23 of them. What better place to get training for high-level government positions requiring top security and decision-making powersthat determine the future of ourdemocracy?All appointees

approvedbyLouisiana senators. Hitler removed non-Germans from federal positions in law,military,government andeducation. Substitute DEI purges in the present administration.

Hitler was given power over the military and police. Troops were placed in towns whereanti- government activities wereanticipated. This action now equates withthe power given to Trump in orderto place the National Guard in towns on anticipation of demonstrations or activities thatproclaim issues with the administration’sactions or policies, no matter what the size of the event.

Undesirable noncitizens and citizens snatchedoff thestreet and sent to concentration camps in foreign countries without due process or notiﬁcation of family or contacts.They just disappeared.

Louisiana’srepresentative and senators need expose thethreats that are making themand theircolleagues send 300 million Americans down the road to dictatorship. NORMAN WARNOCK Stonewall

Articleexposes issues with building MississippiRiver bridge in fragile ecosystem

TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com. TO SEND US

Lawyersuing BigOil does little more than enrich himself

They are making millions of dollars in lawyers fees and not doinganything constructive.

The Legislature needstocontrol lawsuits such as these thatharm ourmost importantindustry

The front-page article about attorney John Carmouche and company shows what is wrong with the legal system in this state. Suing an industry that employs thousands of workers here withthe claim that they did something wrong does not ﬁx the issue but greatly enriches the lawyers.

In May,Haley Miller wrote aperceptive article on what is at stake in Laura and Cliff’s Comeaux’sfight to protect their historically and ecologically valuable property from the impact of aproposednew Mississippi RiverBridge at Plaquemine Point in Iberville Parish. Unfortunate experience with similarmassive infrastructure projects has demonstratedthatsecondary andcumulative impacts to the affected ecosystem are too oftenworse thanoriginally anticipated. In the case of the oldgrowth cypress and fragile habitatofthe A.E. LeBlanc site andadjacentarea, road accessthrough their property for bridge pylonconstruction andrelated activities will affect hydrology andalter the fragile ecosystem beyond the forest’scapacity to recover As Haleystatesinher article,LSU research on the site hasdetermined that the LeBlanc site is arare example of vanishing naturally regenerating cypress forests in Louisiana.Ina letter to the state Department of Transportationand Development, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife andFisheries stated thatthe significantecological value of the LeBlanc property justifiedthe designation of the site as an officially recognized Natural Area. The letter furtherstatedthat“should this site be within or adjacent to the finalfootprint of this project,irreversible harm would be causedtothe ecological integrity” of this site, and requestedthatanalternative to the A.E. LeBlanc Natural Areabechosenfor the new bridge location. We are in full agreement with Wildlife and Fisheries —the ecological costs clearly outweigh the ostensible benefitstobederived from amassive bridge over the A.E. LeBlanc Natural Area and Old-Growth Cypress Forest.

ANGELLE BRADFORD ROSENBERG chapter chair,Sierra Club Delta Chapter LETTERSTOTHE

RICHARD LEVY NewOrleans

La.death rowprisoner, nowruled innocent,deservesrelease on bail

It is almost impossible to think of a punishment too severe forsomeone who —Ihate to even writethese words raped and murdered atwo-year-old On the other hand, unless you were the two-year-old or her loved ones, it is hard to imagine many fates worse than spending 32 years in prison, and at least nominally on death row,for amistaken conviction for supposedly havingcommitted such agodawfulcrime.

And if adistrict judge, upon seeing new science, rules that you are “factual[ly] innocen[t]”ofthe crime indeed, that the evidence suggestsno rape or murder even happened —then the apparently innocent mansurelydeserves bail and release, withappropriate safeguards, while thestate appeals the judge’sruling.

That issue —release on bail, or not is the focus of ahearing scheduled July 22 in Monroe for longtimedeath-row inmate Jimmie “Chris” Duncan, who was arrested in 1993 for causingthe death of the 23-month-olddaughterof hislive-in girlfriend. He was convicted of rape and murder but, if Judge Alvin Sharp is reading the new evidence correctly,hewas responsible instead only forextremely stupid negligence.

This column can’tpretend to declare Duncan innocent. That would require sitting through days and days of opencourt testimony.Itis, however,worth understanding that, all along,there have been two wildly divergent stories of what happened to youngHaley Oliveaux—and thata judge, hearing copious evidence relying on newscientiﬁcunderstandings, has now found Duncan innocent.

The prosecution’sstory is thatDun-

can,while babysitting Haley and givingher abath, suddenly lost his mind and abused and then killed her by drowning herinabathtub. Duncan’s story is that he left her,healthy,taking abath while he went into the kitchen to washdishes, and that he returned to ﬁnd her face down, accidentally drowned.

It is certainly arguable that leaving atwo-year-old alone in abathtub amounts to criminal negligence. Still, that is afar cry from the sickeningly heinous act forwhich prosecutors convicted him andput him on deathrow

It is undisputed that Duncan, who hadabsolutelyzero criminal history andnoevidenceofsexual deviance, carried thechild’sbody to aneighbor while weeping andasking them to call paramedics. Prosecutors say that whatmay have been bite marks on her face, along with inﬂammation in her posterior region, indicated violent foul play

As famed author John Grisham explainedinthesepages, alleged bite-mark evidence of this sort is now consideredjunk science, and the two medical “experts” who analyzed the supposed bite marksnow have seen nine of the people convicted by their testimony later set free because their analysis turned out to be inaccurate. Meanwhile, when Judge Sharp heard the newevidence presented to him, it includedarespected doctor saying the girl evidenced no injuries in any way consistentwith rape. Andthe detective who investigated the case said there was “no blood, no signs of struggle, no cleaning ragsand no cleaning agents”inthe bathroom. Meanwhile, Duncan for all these years has been amodel prisoner.He evenworked as aGeneral Educational Development instructor,coaching

16 of his fellow inmates into earning GED diplomas. Tuesday’shearing is not about Duncan’sguilt or innocence, but about whether to grant him bail, and under what conditions, while thestate insists on appealing Sharp’sﬁnding that Duncan is innocent. The man is hardly a ﬂight risk. He presumably would live with his family and be restricted in how far he could venture from home, perhaps while wearing an ankle monitor

Andall this, not for aman who is awaiting trial while copious evidence indicates he is guilty of murder,but instead one now found actually innocent in acourt of law

The prosecutors’ brief makes compelling argumentsthat Sharp erred in ﬁnding Duncan innocent after all these years. The brief by Duncan’slawyers makes compellingcounter-arguments that no violence was committed.

Legally,ajudge must cross ahigh bar to ﬁnd actual innocence years after ajury found someone guilty. Once he does, though, prosecutors must clear a very high bar to have thejudge’sﬁndings overturned.

As of right now,though, the law and plenteous logic bothconsider Duncan an innocent man. After 32 years in prison for an alleged crimeofheinous violence that ajudge now says never even happened, it makes no sense not to grant Duncan adegree of freedom pending thestate’sappeal. Even Haley’smother says she believes Duncan is innocent.

To be imprisoned 32 years for what may have been tragic negligence, but no violence, is certainly punishment enough.

Quin Hillyer can be reached at quin. hillyer@theadvocate.com.

Howthe pandemic sparkedan epidemic of intellectual malpractice

The worst public health crisis in 100 years became arguably the worst public policy failure in U.S.history becauseofsocial pathologies that the pathogen triggered. The coronavirus pandemic is over.What it revealed lingers: intellectual malpractice and authoritarian impulses infecting governmental, scientific, academic and media institutions. This is unsparingly documented by two Princeton social scientists, Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee, in “In Covid’sWake:How Our Politics Failed Us.” The most comprehensive and aggressive mobilization of emergencypowers in U.S. history,wielded with scant regard for collateral consequences, exacerbatedinequalities, included “extraordinary restrictions on free speech” and constituted a“stress test” that “the central truth-seekingdepartmentsofliberal democracy: journalism, science, and universities” frequently flunked. Macedo andLee say the“moralization of disagreements” stifled dissent,employingcensorship and shaming. Incantations to “follow thescience” obscured this: Science cannot “tell us what to do” becausegargantuan government interventions in society involve contestable judgmentsacross the range of human values.And largeuncertainties, requiring difficult choices demanding cost-benefit analyses that were neglectedduring the pandemic

George Will STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Avolunteer prepares adose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 at theOchsnerLafayette General Medical Center

The authors, self-described as “on the progressive side,” detail how “the class biases of pandemic restrictions” —favored the “laptop class” of knowledge workers and others able to work remotely.“Essential workers,” about one-third of the workforce, largely working class and disproportionately minorities, were expected to carry on There was no historical precedent for successinwhat was attempted: using non-pharmaceuticalinterventions lockdowns, social distancing,masking, etc. —tostiﬂe apandemic. Andthere was, Macedo and Lee report, “norelationship between the stringency of state”restrictions and COVID mortality rates.

Thebiomedical establishment, academia and remarkably unquestioning media reacted ferociously —politically, notscientifically —against thetheory that the pandemic’sorigin was aleak from aChinese lab doing “gain of function” researchthat engineers especially transmissible and/or virulent viruses. This origin is now widely deemed plausible,evenprobable. The authorsnote that Anthony S. Fauci, the leading U.S. infectious-disease specialist,initiated the writing of apaper,morepolitical than scientific, asserting thevirus’snaturalorigin,then cited the paper against the lab-leak hypothesis. He repeatedly andclearly misled Congress withemphatic denials of his involvement in funding gain-of-function research. The threeeminent epidemiologists whowrote theOctober 2020 Great BarringtonDeclaration —proposing pandemic mitigations focused on the elderly and persons withcomorbidities —were disparaged by Francis Collins, then head of the National Institutes of Health, as “fringe” figures. This adjective conveys apresumption against departures fromgroupthink.Galileo was afringe figure. In September 2020, about 100 Stanford public health professors denouncedacolleague —author of five books of health care policy —whose sin was arguing that policy should “minimize all harms,”not simply to stop the coronavirus “at all costs.” Two months later,Stanford’sFaculty Senate votedoverwhelmingly to censure him

Censure, not refute. Those declaring thescientiﬁc consensus unquestionable included two professors of comparativeliterature and aprofessor of theater and performance studies. Despite thefact,quickly known, that COVID largely spared theyoung, the heads of the major teachers unions called for prolonged school closures, during which their members were paid. Even after the ineffectiveness of masking was revealed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said children as young as 2should wear them all day In theever-overwrought Atlantic magazine, Georgia’sdecision to end lockdowns was called an “experiment in human sacriﬁce.” But cumulatively, theconsequences of unfocused measures taken against thecoronavirus —from cancer screenings missed because of lockdowns, to ageneration’s learning loss and alegacy of chronic absenteeism from schools, to myopia in children from excessive screen time, to accelerated dementia among the isolated elderly —were worse than the disease, whose infections were mostly (morethan 98%) mild. The costsof hysteria, partly driven by “noble lies” to panic thepublic intocompliance with authoritarian measures, will, Macedo and Lee say,affect “the health, well-being, and longevity of the whole population years intothe future.”

“The ‘pandemic,’”writeMacedo and Lee, “was routinely said to have closed schools, businesses, theaters, travel, and so on, rather than government ofﬁcials’ decisions.” The authors have produced themost dismaying dissection of U.S. policymaking since David Halberstam’s Vietnam Warpolicy autopsy, “The Bestand theBrightest ” Their book is moredismaying, but also exhilarating. Vietnam revealed the insularity and hubris of asmall coterie of foreign policy shapers. Macedo and Lee identify much broader and deeper cultural sicknesses. Buttheir meticulous depictions and plausible explanations of the myriad institutional failures demonstrate social science at its ﬁnest.

Email George Will at georgewill@ washpost.com.

The gendergap, we’re informed by some of the best pollinganalysts in thebusiness, is biggerthan ever.Ever, in this case, means sincethe election of 1980, whenmen weremore willing than womento vote forRonaldReagan andoustJimmy Carter Thatspurred political journalists to emit multiple articles examining just exactlywhatwas on women’sminds andprobing theirdifferentand presumably superior opinions.The assumption wasthatthe gendergap was costing Republicans votes. Being of acontrary disposition,inOctober 1982, Iwrote an opinionarticletitled(paraphrasing Sigmund Freud),“WhatDoMen Want?” For mostoffour decades, the gendergap wobbled around three or four points. Now,coinciding perhapsnot accidentally —withthe era of President DonaldTrump,itis bigger. In 2024, according to analyst DanielCox, the gender gap was 11 pointsamongBlack voters, 12 pointsamong Whitevoters, and13 pointsamong Hispanics. Anditseems to be getting wider amongthe young. Democraticpollster David Shor sees agender gap of around 5% amongover-70s andaround 10% amongthose 35 to 70, dwarfed by agap skyrocketing amongthe young, up above 20%

Polling analyst Nate Silver,probingthe sharp differences in partisan preference amongyoung men and young women —men are farmoreRepublican,women farmore Democratic— built on long-standing ﬁndings that women tendtobemore risk-averse thanmen.“Young men takeamore risk-onviewofthe economy,” he wrote, while Democrats “emphasize security —minimizing downside risk —above theopportunity to compete andmaximizing upside outcomes.”

On arelated issue, Silver notes the long-standing research on happiness that showsyoung men are signiﬁcantlymore likely than young women to self-describe as happy,and other research showing thatself-described conservatives report themselvesmuchhappierthanself-describedliberals. On happiness studies, as Silver notes,“Age and religiosity matter alot —religious people arehappier, young peopleare sadder —but theliberal/ conservative gapoutweighs almostall other characteristicsexceptage.”

“I was honestlysurprised by howstrongthe relationship is,” Silver writes in apassage many of his political analyst readers found stunning. “Among voters whoreport poor mental health, liberalsoutnumber conservatives 45 to 19 percent. Among those who report excellent mental health, conservatives outnumber liberals51-20.”

He concludes that young men being“loweron agreeableness andneuroticism”than women translates intogreater support forTrump andfor what hasbecome aTrump Republican Party

More partisan analysts attribute thegrowing gendergap amongthe young to youngwomen’s greater neuroticism.Reﬂecting on resultsofa survey on whether doctors have ever toldrespondents they have amental health problem, Republican stafferAndrew Follett, in apartisan andperhaps hysterical tone, tweets, “Literally half of youngleft wingwoman …the cat ladieswho are thebasisfor theirparty …are mentally ill. Young left wing MEN are morementally ill than conservative WOMEN.”

Lest youthink this comment is hyperbolic, considera recentdescriptionofAmerica today by TaylorLorenz, asocial media writer who is far enough from the fringetohave been hiredand givenbylines by both The NewYork Times and The Washington Post.

In onecharacteristictweet in 2023, Lorenz, who constantlywearsamask in public,presented an ultra-pessimisticviewofAmericaand theworld. “We’re livingina late stagecapitalist hellscape during an ongoing deadlypandemicwithrecord wealth inequality, 0social safety net/job security, as climate change cooksthe world.”

Amore measured viewcomes from theRepublican pollster andauthorPatrick Rufﬁni. “Unhappiness is afeature of being on theleft thesedays. Agreater beliefinsocietal ills is internalized, reinforced by beingonline 24/7. Theytalkoften about right-wingers or Trump policiesliterally killing people.”

The partisan gender gap is perhaps theleast dangerousresult of this frenzied andbreathtakingly ahistoricmindset. Talk show host Erick Erickson points to theAxiosreport that aHouse Democrat says constituents say “what we really need to do is be willingtobeshot.”

Thenthere is the evidence of less contact between young men andwomen, withromances discouraged on campuses andatworkplaces,fewer marriages, increasing childlessness andbelowreplacement birthrates, which threaten thefundamentalsofsociety.But that’sabiggersubject, for anotherday

The partisan gender gap, begun some40years agoasfeminists decried toxic masculinity, has been widening in recentyears as bros recoilattoxic femininity. In time, perhaps it will narrow, with agreater appreciation of nontoxic humanity MichaelBaroneisonX,@MichaelBarone.

Michael Barone

Quin Hillyer

RAIN

Continued from page 1B

Continued from page1B

“It’sremarkable to see the depths of compassion people have. The Acadiana community sees this andare moved enough to do something,” said Ben Broussard, chiefofexternal affairs at Catholic Charities.

At least 130 people are confirmed dead andaround 100 remainmissing after heavy rainfall unleashed amassive amount of water through Texas Hill Country on July 4. In some places, the Guadalupe River rose 20 feet in under an hour,catching residents off guard, including children attending summer camps.

Many of the local volunteers werefamiliar with the harsh aftermath of natural disasters.

“Weknowwhatit’slike to go through adisaster andhaving gone through it myself andbeing a recipient of someone’sgenerosity, the ﬁrst thing we wanted to do was help even if we couldn’tphysically be there,” said Broussard.

Blake Faulk, aCatholic Charities volunteer,said for him it came down to one simple fact. “I would want someone to do the same for me. Imean,it’sthemtoday and could be us tomorrow,” he said.

Catholic Charities of Acadiana will transport all collected donations in 18-wheelers to partnering agencies actively responding in the affected region.

Email Ja’kori Madisonatjakori madison@theadvocate.com.

LCGworkers have been cleaningstorm drains this week, positioning barricades and handing out sandbags in case of flooding, ChiefofStaff Christina Dayries said. Emergency operations staffmet Wednesday tofinalize response plansand discusspossibleshelters, and LCG and other officials coordinated with search and rescue units in case they are needed during the storm.

EmailClaire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate com.

4:15 p.m.Wednesday,down slightly from 8:15 a.m. and well below the minor flood stage of 10 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’sriver gauges. The U.S. Army Corpsof Engineers opened the Bayou Courtableau gates, allowing water to empty into the Atchafalaya Basin rather than flow into the Vermilion River,Rachel Godeaux, chief administrative officer of Lafayette Consolidated Government, said Tuesday The Ruth Canal structure also has beenclosed, not allowing water to flow into theVermilionRiver,she said.

VOTING

Continued from page1B

Linda Cockrell, president of the Vermilion Parish NAACP chapter,said thelegal ﬁght will continue if the City Council votesinfavor of the city’sproposed map.

“We’re not giving this up,” Cockrell said. “The struggle is real.”

The 2020 census showed that Abbeville had lost1,000 peoplesince2010. After a new census, local governments must redistrictto accommodate theshift in population to provide equal voting power among districts. The newlydrawn districts must have similar populations.

The City Council instead reused the districtmap it has been using since 2010.

The council argued that the 2020 census was invalid and would not producea substantial variation in Abbeville’spopulation, according to previous reporting.

At thetime, thecouncil rejected mapsproduced by the Vermilion Parish

KOK

Continued from page1B

McCoyisCEO and cofounder of KOK Wings &Things with business partners Avery Bell, Jared Johnsonand Tre’JanVinson. The friends, all KappaAlpha Psi fraternity brothersat UL, founded the business in 2016 when they began serving plates out of their home at 117 Clinton Street in 2016. They then opened afood truck in 2017, before expanding to their ﬁrst brickand-mortar across from UL just ayear later Since then, the concept has proved to be apopular one, withadditional locations, food trucks and vendor partnerships at Cajun Field and Tiger Stadium. The partners stated on

NAACP and thelaw center that fell within the accepted deviation.

District BinAbbevillehas apopulation of 3,086people —anearly10% deviation from the ideal 2,797 people per district and a19% deviation from the least populated district

The map suggested by the NAACPwould result in a1.1%deviationoverall across the district. In comparison, the city’snew map would create a6.3% deviation overall,according to a handout from thelaw center

The NAACP and thelaw center have sent several alternativemaps to the city over theyears.

“Wewant to resolve this.” Soussi said. “Wewant to ensure that everyone has equal voting power.And one-person, one-voteisnot only in the Constitution— it makes sense.”

Stephen Marcantel writes for The Acadiana Advocate as aReport for America corps member Emailhim at stephen. marcantel@theadvocate. com.

Facebook that they have served over5 million wings, expanded to over 60 employees anddonated over $200,000 to organizations through their charitable endeavors.

EmailJoanna Brown at joanna.brown@ theadvocate.com

LOTTERY

email advertising@lapress.comorcall 225-344-9309. Miscellaneous INJUREDINANACCIDENT?Don't accept theinsurance company's ﬁrst offer. Many injured partiesare entitled to majorcashsettlements Geta free evaluation to seewhat your case is really worth. 100% Free Evaluation.CallNow:1-833-466-1630. Be readywithyourzip codeto connect with theclosest provider. Donate your car, truck, boat,RV and more to support ourveterans! Schedule aFAST, FREE vehicle pickup and receivea toptax deduction! Call VeteranCar Donationsat1-844-742-5188 today! Health andWellness DENTAL INSURANCEfromPhysicians Mutual InsuranceCompany Coverage for400 plus procedures Real dental insurance- NOTjusta discount plan.Donot wait!Call now! GetyourFREEDental InformationKit with allthe details! 1-855-268-0108 www.dental50plus.com/morning #6258 Home andGarden PROFESSIONAL LAWN SERVICE: Fertilization, weed control, seeding, aeration and mosquito control. Call nowfor afreequote.Ask aboutour ﬁrst applicationspecial!1-833-466-

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Reagan Breaux pulls acart filled with donations Wednesdayduring asupply drivetoaid recent Texas flood victims at theCatholic Charities of Acadiana Regional Disaster Response Warehouse in Lafayette.

SAINTS PREVIEW LINEBACK ERS

Stable LBsfacepotential transition year

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

As faraspositionsfor theNew Orleans Saints go, linebacker is pretty much as set as they come.

Demario Davis starts in one spot. Pete Werner takes the other.Even DannyStutsman, afourth-round rookie out of Oklahoma, has aclear path to lock up the third spot. But could this be ayear of transition?

Davis, 36,isentering theﬁnalyearofhis contract. Werner,despitesigning athreeyear,$22.5 million extension last season, likelywill have to provehe’sasolid ﬁt under new defensive coordinator Brandon Staley And Stutsman, if his year goes right,may be in line to be aconsistent starter in 2026. For now,the linebacker foundation is solid, but the pecking order might very

well change depending on how this season shakes out.

Best case

Davis ﬁghts off Father Time.

The36-year-old finally started to slow

down ayear ago. He still was a relatively productive player, but his 16 missed tackles were thesecond-most on theSaints —behind only cornerback AlontaeTaylor.And though Davis technically hadmore missedtackles in 2022 with17, he played at a high enough level then to land on an All-Pro team. No one thought Davis’ playwarranted thathonor last season. His slight decline doesn’tmean he’s ﬁnished. It would be great for the

UL coach Matt Deggs said addingLouisiana Tech to the Sun BeltConferenceisgreatfor the baseball side of things.

UL coaches, AD welcome La.Techwith open arms

Bulldogsrecentlyadded as 14th team in SunBelt

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

UL athletic director Bryan Maggardknew there was some concernfrom East Division teams within the Sun Belt Conference

But when last Thursday’svoteofSun Belt schools resulted in an invitation for Louisiana Tech to rejoin theleague, it wasthe outcome Maggard expected all along “Initially,there were some members who wanted to discuss the approach of waiting and not necessarily having anew member at this time,” Maggard said. “But Ithink eventually,the CEOs all came to theconclusion that it was best to move forward with having a14th member.I personally wasnot surprised that was thechoice.”

The ofﬁcial announcement of Louisiana Tech accepting theinvitation stated the Bulldogs would join no later thanJuly 1, 2027.

“I think it’sgreat for the entire West Division,” Maggard said.“AddingLa. Tech meets some of the corevalues of our league, beingregionally located andtheyhave established rivalries already.Ithink whenyou thinkaboutitinthose contexts in additionto easy travel, it’sano-brainer.”

An opening in the West Division opened whenTexasState left the league forthe Pac-12. While some East Division schools hadconcerns about athird team in Louisiana, keeping the 14-team structure proved critical. “It would have madefootball scheduling very difﬁcult,” Maggardsaid of droppingto 13 teams. “I thinkonce the Sun Belt staff was able to communicate all thedetails, they resolved to get back to 14.”

Long before Maggard arrived in Lafayette, Louisiana Tech was aSun Beltmember from 1991-2001. It left for the WAC, then joined Conference USA in 2013. Going back even further,Louisiana Tech was in the Gulf StatesConference with the Ragin’ Cajuns in the 1960s and then again in the Southland Conference from 1971-81. The Cajuns became an independent in football in 1982 while remaining in the Southland Conference in other sports through 1986, beforebothteams left forthe American South in all sports besidesfootball.

SECMEDIA DAYS DAY3

BYWILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer

ATLANTA— Forthe past fouryears,LSU hasmaintained oneofthe best quarterback situations in the country.It brought in afuture Heisman Trophy winner, andthere was aclear line of succession from Jayden Daniels to Garrett Nussmeier.Nussmeier returning for asecond and ﬁnal season as the starter ensured another year of stability

Butwhat about 2026?

After Nussmeier leaves, LSU’sfuture at quarterback is uncertain again. His replacement might be on the roster with MississippiState sophomore transfer Michael Van Burenand redshirt freshman Colin Hurley.But it might

not, in which case LSU would have to pursue one of the top players in the transfer portal.

LSU tried to establish another line of succession by recruiting ﬁve-star quarterback Bryce Underwood. His ﬂip to Michigan derailed that plan, and LSU did not sign aquarterback in the 2025 class. Instead, it added VanBuren in thewinter portal window.After starting eight games last season,Van Buren likely will be Nussmeier’stop backup.

“He showed alot of promise as afreshman,” Mississippi State quarterback BlakeShapen saidWednesday at SEC media days. “He’svery talented and can throw the ball down the ﬁeld. He’sfast, he can run, he can take offand

STAFFPHOTO

BRAD KEMP

See SAINTS, page 4C

Saints LB Pete Werner STAFFFILE

PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Rose, now 45, won’t concede his dream win just yet

BY STEVE DOUGLAS

AP sportswriter

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland

Justin Rose has been dreaming of winning the British Open since the age of 8. He’s approaching 45 now and has yet to lift the claret jug.

He knows the clock is ticking.

“Obviously, later in your career you’re never quite sure how many chances are going to be left,” Rose said at Royal Portrush on Wednesday, a day before he begins his 22nd attempt to win his home major “And when you do come close, clearly it’s like, ahh.”

And, boy, has this English Rose come close to adding a late-career major to his résumé.

He challenged for the Open Championship at Royal Troon last year, ﬁnishing second to Xander Schauffele He was then one putt away from winning the Masters in April, losing out to Rory McIlroy in a playoff in a major ﬁnish for the ages. Rose has a major title in his collection — the U.S. Open in 2013 — as well as an Olympic gold medal and four Ryder Cup victories He has been No. 1 in the world, too.

But he wants more, even at his age.

“What I’m chasing at this point in my career are the big moments in the sport, whether that’s Ryder Cups, major championships. Those are the memories I’m trying to make,” Rose said. “I feel like I’ve been lucky enough to achieve a lot in the game, and I’d like to have achieved more of the same things, more majors, more wins, more everything.”

Finally winning the British Open would be the sweetest of all moments for Rose, who ﬁrst made a name for himself as a 17-year-old amateur at Royal Birkdale in 1998 when, wearing a baggy red sweater, he holed out for eagle to secure a tie for fourth place.

“As a British player it’s been the one that I’ve dreamed about winning and holed the putt many times in my mind,” Rose said.

Rose isn’t slowing down in his pursuit, remaining supremely ﬁt in an attempt to keep in touch with the younger players on the circuit

In the United States, he travels to tournaments with a custom-made RV that’s essentially a traveling gym — containing things like a cold plunge and a sauna — and he posts videos on Instagram of him working out

It is keeping him competitive — he’s the world No. 21 — and a deﬁnite contender this week as he bids to become the second-oldest winner of the British Open, behind Old Tom Morris, who was the champion at age 46 in 1867.

“I would say overall week in and week out, it’s going to be hard to get a ton better and transform my game to suddenly add new dimensions to it where I can kind of become incredibly dominant over the top young players,” Rose said. “But I think in certain situations and in certain environments, I can still kind of bring my best.”

He showed that at Augusta National, where he had a front-row seat as McIlroy achieved the career Grand Slam.

Rose said it stung but that he wasn’t “completely devastated” because of how well he played.

“I think I’m over it,” he said. “I don’t know Who knows?”

Expect the unexpected

British Open packs new experiences for world’s best golfers

BY DOUG FERGUSON AP golf writer

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland The crowds following Rory McIlroy for three days at Royal Portrush have been enormous, a reminder of the expectations. On banners and ﬂags and buntings of grandstands there are images of the claret jug, a reminder of what’s at stake at the British Open.

But add this to the list of what makes golf’s oldest championship so distinct from the other majors: Every year feels like a new experience

Justin Thomas contemplated that Wednesday when he finished up his third day playing the course, a practice schedule that is never this full at any other major

“I came to the realization the last couple of years that playing is better, because your ball goes into weird places,” he said. “I can go out and chip all day and get used to the turf and the speed of the greens. But the more you play, the more shots you’re hitting in places where you never would in practice.

“You get out here in a different wind and it can be, ‘Wow, I didn’t think I’d be here.’ ” There is another element to this major that stands out from the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. Amid the nerves and pressure of a major is the true joy of playing links golf.

“I feel like I’m learning more and more each time I come over here,” said Scottie Schefﬂer, the world’s No. 1 player who is in his fifth British Open. “Each golf course is different, too Irish links so far is quite a bit different than Scottish links. It’s a bit greener over here. You have to play more shots in the air. There’s a lot of different shots you have to play

“It’s an interesting course. And from what I’ve seen, it seems to be really fun to play and very fair.” Fair is a loose word in these parts, with all of the humps and crazy bounces, with pot bunkers to be avoided on so many shots, with a hole like the par-3 16th known as “Calamity Corner” that lives up to the name by looks alone.

McIlroy isn’t sure he got a fair deal in 2019 when his opening tee shot went left, normally not a big deal except at Royal Portrush there is internal out of bounds and McIlroy went just beyond the stakes, which sent him into a downward spiral — a quadruple bogey, a 79 and a short week. He did not return to the Portrush links in his native North-

11th hole during a practice round Wednesday. ‘I feel like I’m learning more and more each time I come over here,’ Scheffler said

ern Ireland until Monday morning, and then he was out playing all three days of practice.

“I have a real appreciation for how well bunkered it is off the tee,” McIlroy said. “It’s like ‘OK, I can’t hit 2-iron off the tee, but that brings this bunker into play But then if I hit driver, it’ll bring in this bunker.’ So you have to take on the shot.”

The forecast? It’s generally been referred to as “mixed,” which in these parts tends to mean it changes without notice. The final day of practice was sunshine and breezy

Thomas was playing the 16th hole while his father showed video of them watching in the ﬁnal round in 2019, wind and rain ripping so hard that umbrellas were useless. Thomas remembers standing on the 17th tee and calling over a rules official to ask whether they were meant to be playing He wanted to hit 3-wood off the tee, but it was 209 yards to the fairway and the wind was so

strong he didn’t think he could get there. So he went with driver, hit some 75 yards off line and made triple bogey

On his final day of practice, with sunshine and a helping wind, he hit a mini-driver that would have stopped near the front of the green on the 409yard hole if it hadn’t found a bunker

This is what he loves about links golf.

“Not only do the holes change, how easy or hard they are, your lines off the tee can change,” he said “You have elevation. You’re never writing ‘uphill’ or ‘downhill’ in the yardage book like you are at an Open Championship. You have a game plan, but you really can’t until you’re out there and whatever the weather is giving you.

“If I could only play one course the rest of my life, it would be links. Because you could play the same course every day for a month and get something different.”

IN BRIEF FROM

Ex-Saints great Graham crosses ocean, sets record

Former Saints tight end Jimmy Graham was a part of a four-person team that set a world record for crossing the Arctic Ocean on Monday

The 584-mile challenge took a little more than 10 days, the Saints reported.

The quartet also included Andrew Tropp, Hannah Huppi and John Huppi. The group broke the previous record of 15 days, five hours and 32 minutes from Ocean Revival in 2023.

The group was the first mixedgender team to cross the Arctic Ocean, and the first all-American team to cross a polar ocean. Graham is the first Black person to cross a polar ocean, and Hannah is the first American woman to cross a polar ocean.

Oakmont golf course bans Clark for damaging locker

OAKMONT, Pa. Oakmont is banning former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark from returning to the club until he pays for damaging his locker Golf Digest obtained a letter that club president John Lynch has sent to Oakmont members. Clark damaged the locker during last month’s U.S. Open and a photo was leaked that went viral.

Lynch said Clark won’t be allowed on the property until he pays for the damage, makes a charitable donation to the club’s choice and seeks counseling. Oakmont has hosted the most U.S. Opens.

The next one is in 2033. That’s when Clark’s 10-year exemption from winning runs out.

Ravens’ Jones expected to miss start of training camp

The Baltimore Ravens placed rookie offensive lineman Emery Jones on the non-football-injury/ illness list Wednesday, a week ahead of the team’s ﬁrst training camp practice.

Jones, a third-round pick from LSU, missed organized team activities and mandatory minicamp this offseason while he recovered from a shoulder injury he suffered in college.

Jones can be activated off the NFI list and return to practice at any time, but coach John Harbaugh told the Baltimore Sun he didn’t expect the former Catholic High star to be available for the start of training camp unless he “does something miraculous.”

“But I’m hopeful at some point in time in training camp we’ll see him,” Harbaugh said.

Clark sidelined again right before All-Star weekend

NEW YORK The Indiana Fever might be without star guard Caitlin Clark again for a bit after she injured her groin Tuesday night late in a win over the Connecticut Sun.

Clark was out for the team’s game on Wednesday night against New York and her status for WNBA All-Star weekend, which Indiana is hosting, is up in the air Clark is supposed to compete in a loaded 3-point contest Friday night and is captain of one of the All-Star teams.

“No discussion yet about this weekend.” Indiana coach Stephanie White said. “There was imaging done, but there hasn’t been any discussion beyond tonight.”

White said Clark’s management team will ﬁgure out whether she’ll be able to participate this weekend.

Reese misses Sky’s final game before All-Star break

CHICAGO Angel Reese didn’t play Wednesday in the Chicago Sky’s ﬁnal game before the AllStar break because of a leg injury

The All-Star forward from LSU sat on the bench as the Sky hosted the Atlanta Dream.

The Dream never trailed in the game, led by as many as 43 points and coasted to an easy 86-49 victory

Reese had 22 points and 10 rebounds Monday for her ninth straight double-double in Chicago’s 91-78 loss to Minnesota. She leads the WNBA with 12.6 rebounds per game.

Reese is set to make her second All-Star Game appearance this weekend in Indianapolis.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By PETER MORRISON

Justin Thomas of the United States walks off the 12th green during a practice round Tuesday for the British Open at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Portrush, Northern Ireland.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By PETER MORRISON

Scottie Scheffler of the United States plays out of a bunker on the

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JON SUPER Justin Rose of England plays his tee shot off the second hole during a practice round Wednesday for the British Open

BRITISH OPEN

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JON SUPER

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland tees off on the fifth hole during a practice round Wednesday. McIlroy missed the cut the last time the British Open was at Royal Portrush in 2019.

SECMEDIA DAYS

THREEAND OUT: SCOTTRABALAISBREAKSDOWNDAy 3INATLANTA

1

IS BAMA STILLBAMA?

There’sacertain electricity absentfrom SEC media days, and it’seasy to define: Alabama’smystique has leftthe building.The Crimson Tide looks likeAlabama and talkslike Alabama, andthe Tide certainly still must be respected as a CFPcontender.But after going 9-4 this past season, Kalen DeBoer’s bunch doesn’t strikepreemptivefearintothe hearts of other SEC teams likeitdid under …you knowwho. LSU playsat Alabama on Nov. 8.

2

THETWO FROM OU

Askingplayers about teammates whotransferred to other SECschools has become aregular partofSEC media days.Itwas that wayWednesdayasOklahoma safety RobertSpears-Jenningswas asked about former OU receiver Nic Anderson and tight end Bauer Sharp, both nowatLSU.“Ifeel LSU is getting twogreat guys. Bauer is averyvocal leader,great personality,comes to work everyday.Nic, sameway,greatguy, lovesplaying football.”LSU goes to Oklahoma on Nov. 29.

3

THEY KNOW JACK

OneofLSU’s top transfersisdefensiveend Jack Pyburnfrom Florida. His job when the Gators visit TigerStadium on Sept. 13 will be to sack Florida quarterback DJ Lagway. For now, Lagwayissinging his praises: “LSUis definitely getting aheck of aplayerand aheck of aleader.” Florida defensivelinemanCalebBanks had this description of Pyburn: “He runs throughpeople’s faces.Theygot agood one. I’m not going to lie.”

Tide ﬁnally acceptsDeBoeras‘ourguy’

BY WILSON ALEXANDER Staff writer

Notebook

ATLANTA— Entering his second season at Alabama, head coach Kalen DeBoer recognized the Crimson Tide did not meet its own expectations in his first year After DeBoer replaced Nick Saban Alabama went 9-4 and finished outside The Associated Press top 10 forthe first time since 2007. It was rankedNo. 11 in thefinal College Football Playoff rankings, but ACC champion Clemson took the last spot in the 12-team field.

“Wefell short of making the playoffs,” DeBoer said Wednesday at SEC media days. “It’sassimple as that, right? Giving yourself a chance to go compete for achampionship. Ithink there’sa lot of things that I’m super proudofthat have happened within the program that are part of the progression.”

Alot changed at Alabama after Saban retired. At the Manning Passing Academy in late July,redshirt junior quarterback Ty Simpson said the players had to learn to trust DeBoer

“Last year was so uniquebecause the greatest coach of all time is not there anymore, and this stranger comes in and is like, ‘Hey,we’re going to do it this way,’ ”Simpson said. “Not many people —a lot of people trusted him, but they didn’t trust him fully.Ithink this year, everybody trusts him.

“Everybody understands, ‘Hey, this is our guy.Coach Saban is not coming back in the door.’ We’re going to make sure that all our attention is on coachDeBoer,and we’re going to do it his way.” Simpson believes the Crimson Tide has accepted DeBoer’smethods and approach, whichhe said

LSU

Continued from page1C

make plays with his feet.” VanBuren became Mississippi State’squarterback after Shapen suffereda season-ending injury in Week 4. VanBuren, who was a four-star recruit in the2024 class, completed 55% of his passes for 1,886 yards with 11 touchdowns andseven interceptions.Three of his starts came on the road against teams that made the CollegeFootball Playoff.

“When you’re atrue freshman coming in and playing these tough games that we have, it’sreally tough,” Shapen said. “Especially playing away games at Georgia and at Tennesseeand at OleMissand places like that, obviously,it’stough.

“He’sgot alot of room to growin that aspect. Just getting older,and he can’tcontrol that. Youkind of just got to learn as you go.But like Isaid, he’satalented player.He has every aspect and trait thatyou need to be agood quarterback.”

Junior safety IsaacSmith prac-

RABALAIS

Continued from page1C

“I know that we have not played the kind of defense necessary to win anational championship,” Kelly said here Monday at SEC media days.“Ithink we put a roster together in this offseason, along withyoung players that have taken lumps along the way as they’ve developed, and given Blake now the tools to play championship-level defense.”

Tiger fans should not anticipate aunit that will eclipse the high-level defenses LSU ﬁelded en route to winning the 2003 BCS championship or playing for the national title in 2011. But theexpectation should be for adefense reasonably good at getting offthe ﬁeld, getting after quarterbacks and disrupting opposing offenses with turnovers.

sharesome similarities with Sa-

ban. At leastone teammateagreed.

“You definitely seeguys are definitely boughtin,” redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Tim Keenan said.“If they’re not here —no knock to them —but everyonehere now,they believeinthe system, they believe in coach DeBoer.”

DeBoer saidWednesday that Simpson wouldbethe starting quarterback if the Crimson Tide had to play right now.Simpson, a formerfive-star recruit, has been competing with redshirt sophomore Austin Mack and five-star freshman Keelon Russell Looking back at hisfirst season, DeBoer said Alabama has to be “better in thebig moments.”Itlost three one-score games “Sometimes there’sups and downsthat youhavetogothrough, unfortunately,thatwehad to experience,” DeBoer said. “But in the end,we’re goingtotakeadvantage

ticed alot against VanBuren. He said VanBuren “canspin it really well” as apasser andﬁtthe ball into tight windowsdownﬁeld. As VanBurendevelops,Smith believes he needs to work on his eye progression so he doesn’tstare down receivers.

“As afreshman, Ifeel like he didagreat job,” Smith said. “As he gets older, Ithink he’s gonna develop into agreat quarterback.”

VanBuren was thrown into some tough spots on a2-10team. He made mistakes that he needed to learn from.But he ﬂashed potential, especially when he passed for 306 yards and three touchdowns in a41-31 loss at Georgia. He also rushedfor ﬁve touchdownsonthe season.

“I hate that he left, but, you know, everybody has theirown life choices and decisions, their own path thatthey havetotake,” Smith said.“Iwish him thebestofluck.

He did agreat job forus.”

LSU also has Hurley,another four-star recruit in the 2024 class. Going into preseason practice, he is more of an unknown.

Hurley reclassified to enroll a year early, making him17years

Thereis one area where LSU deﬁnitely must improve over last season. One areathat proved to be the Tigers’ Kryptonite(note the cleverly crafted oblique reference to the newSuperman movie there). That is containing dualthreat and mobile quarterbacks. Whyisthat so important? Well, this year’sLSU football scheduleisloaded with them. Chock a block, asthe Cajunfolks say Theparadeofelusive throwers starts with theTigers’ Aug. 30 season opener at Clemson (6:30 p.m., ABC) against Cade Klubnik.The name may not roll off thetongue, butthe kid has wheels. He threw for 3,639 yards and36touchdownslast season, andran for 463 net yards and seven scores.

LSUhosts FloridaonSept.13. Gators quarterback DJ Lagway maynot beadual threat in the classic sense but can move the pocket,and he basically beat the

of the failures we’vehad andbe better because of it ” TigerStadiumtest

As he answered questionsabout his health Wednesday, Florida quarterback DJ Lagway used humor to downplay concerns. Lagway waslimited during spring practicebyashoulderinjury.Heplayed ﬁve snaps in the Gators’ spring game, all of which ended in handoffs.

“I don’thave aprosthetic arm, just letting y’all know,” Lagway said, drawing alaugh. “I’mactually getting better at things. I’mnot just trying to getback to throwing the ball. I’vebeen working on mechanics that’sgoing to help my accuracy this year,help my decision-making.” Lagway,speakingfor thefirst time thisoffseason,dodged a question about whether or not he underwent acore procedure. He said he can make all of the throws he did last season.

old last season. LSU would have gotten acloser look at his development this spring, but Hurley was injuredinasingle-car wreck in January.Hereturnedtothe team three monthslater “Unbelievable,” coach Brian Kelly said Monday about Hurley’s recovery.“Ididn’tthink he’dmake it back for thefall. Imean, the injury was real. We were worried about cognitive issues with him Buthehas been amazing.”

The extentand nature of Hurley’sinjuries remain unclear.Citing his age, LSU declined to release much information and Kelly said “a lot” of Hurley’srecovery was left to his family

“Because of that incident —it was kind of awatershed moment in his life,” Kellysaid. “Hehas been fabulous.It’sgoingtobefun to watch him grow.”

Even if LSUthinks VanBuren or Hurley could be thestarter next year,itwill need to addanother quarterback. Four-star Bowe BentleypickedOklahoma over LSU lastmonth,and alate push for four-starBrysonBeaverwasn’t enough to stophim from commit-

Tigers in Gainesville on one leg last season.

“Playing against agreat LSU team, I’m excited to go to Death Valley this year,” Lagway said Wednesday.“It’sgoing to be fun. Funfor LSU and Florida will be determined by how well the Tigers can contain the sophomore, whose arm is regarded as one of thebest in college football.

The middle of the season puts LSUface-to-face with atrio of running quarterbacks: SouthCarolina’sLaNorris Sellers on Oct. 11 in Tiger Stadium,Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia on Oct. 18 in Nashville and Texas A&M’sMarcel Reed in Baton Rouge on Oct. 25. Reed,you may recall, allowed the Aggies to do a180 against LSU at Kyle Field last season. He was inserted in a desperation moveinthe second half and went intosome sort of turbo modethat left theTigers in thedust of a38-23 defeat. Finally in the regular-season

“I’m going to make more of them,” Lagway said. “But that’s notmybiggest thing right now My biggest thing is making the boring throws more consistently That’swhere Iwant to improve my game.”

Hy began throwing earlierthis summer,and Florida coach Billy Napier saidhehas been throwing three times aweek alongwith the rest of the quarterbacks.

Lagway completed 60% of his passesfor 1,915 yards with 12 touchdowns and nine interceptionslast season. He averaged 10 yards perattempt, whichranked secondinthe country behind Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart

Though he started seven games as atrue freshman, Lagway has not started an SEC gameonthe road. His ﬁrst SECroad start will come Sept. 20 in Tiger Stadium

“Death Valley is an amazing atmosphere,” Lagway said. “I’ve been to games there as arecruit, and it’s pretty hectic. I’m just excited to go out thereand play football. It could be in Death Valley,itcould be in the parking lot at Walmart. As long as I’m outthere playing football, that’s all thatmatters.”

Smellingfresh

Alabama left tackle KaydnProctor has been wearing cologne since elementary school, and now he owns about 170 bottles.

“If you’re abig guy,you can’t stink,”said Proctor,who’s 6-foot7and 360 pounds. “You’ve got to be fresh, man.The narrative right now is, if you’re big, you stink, you smell, you’re sweaty.That’snot howitgoes for me.That’swhat I’m saying, ﬂipthe narrative.”

With his dad’shelp, Proctor started wearing cologne so he could smell good for“the little ladies” at school.

ting to Oregon. Only three of the top-50quarterbacks, according to the247Sports composite rankings, are uncommitted. They have not been linked to LSU

The 2027 class is more promising. Three of the top quarterbacks in the country,per the 247Sports composite, are from Louisiana: five-starBaton Rougenative Elijah Haven, four-star Shreveport native Peyton Houston and four-star Benton native Malachi Zeigler Colton Nussmeier,Garrett Nussmeier’s younger brother,isalso a top-50 prospect, giving LSUmultiple options with ties to the school Untilthen, LSU will needtofigure outwhat to do next season. Underwood could have stepped in if everythingwentasplanned,but offensive coordinator Joe Sloan expressedconfidence in what LSU ended up with instead. Over the next few months, LSU will see what it has with VanBuren and Hurley “Wecouldn’tbemoreexcited about howeverythingworked out,” SloansaidinMarch. “I think Michael has done an excellent job. We may not have been in the same situation if that wasthe case.”

ﬁnale, LSU goes to Oklahomafor the ﬁrst time andlikely will have to deal with dual-threat quarterback John Mateer,atransfer from Washington State, as itsnemesis.

Mateer was also here Wednesday,talking about the delicious prospectsofpingponging between passes andruns to keep defenses guessing.

“Tobeable to design and schemeaquarterback run is huge,”saidMateer,who had nearly 4,000 total yards and 44 total TDs forWazzu in 2024. “But catching ateam off guard is also important.” Kelly won’ttruly winover LSU Nation’shearts and minds until he putsa defense out there that in someway atones forthe 2023 defense. Aunit that shriveled in the shadow of asupersonic, recordsettingoffense led by Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. A unit that is easy to argue cost the Tigers aberth in the then four-

ON STAGETHURSDAY

ARKANSAS

LAST YEAR: 7-6 (3-5 SEC)

COACH: SamPittman (6thyear)

PLAYERS: QB Taylen Green,DL CamBall, LB Xavian Sorey

THEBUZZ: Sevenwins, including abig upsetvictoryoverTennessee, loweredthe temperature of Pittman’shot seat, but afew close lossesprevented Arkansas from taking asignificant stepforward. Priority No.1 forthe Razorbacks is protecting Green,a fifth-yearsenior back fora second year undercenter.

MISSOURI

LAST YEAR: 10-3 (5-3 SEC)

COACH: Eli Drinkwitz (6thyear)

PLAYERS: CConnor Tollison, S Daylan Carnell, DE Zion young

THEBUZZ: Quarterback Brady Cook is gone.So, too, is receiver LutherBurden. But Drinkwitz told Paul Finebaum in March the rosterthat star duo left behind is the most talented one he’s built so faratMissouri. If that’strue, then athird straight 10-win season is in the cards for the Tigers.

KENTUCKY

LAST YEAR: 4-8 (1-7 SEC)

COACH: Mark Stoops (13thyear)

PLAYERS: LB Alex Afari, DB Jordan Lovett,TE Josh Kattus

THEBUZZ: Stoops, the SEC’s longest-tenuredcoach, is hoping his Kentucky program can bounce back from the worst season it’shad since 2013 —his first year in charge.A pair of defensivelinemen (David Gusta and Mi’Quise HumphreyGrace) are the stars of atop-15 transfer class tasked withturning thingsaround.

TEXAS A&M

LAST YEAR: 8-5 (5-3 SEC)

COACH: MikeElko(2ndyear)

PLAYERS: CB Will Lee, RG Ar’maj Reed-Adams, LB Taurean york THEBUZZ: Dual-threat quarterback Marcel Reed flashed immense potential as afreshman. NowTexasA&M is hoping he’s more consistentin his sophomore season, his first full year as astarter. Remember the Aggies haven’t won10games since JohnnyManziel’sHeismanwinning 2012 season. Reed can getthemoverthat hump. ReedDarcey

team CFP

Youcan’tunscramble the egg, but Kelly deserves credit for owning what the Tigers weretwo years ago.

“Clearly the 2023 offensive football team we had was good enough to winanational championship,” Kelly said. “Weweren’t good enough as ateam. Alot of that had to do with addressing someshortcomings we had on defense. We think we’ve done that. “I love our roster,our team,the camaraderie of the group, the seriousness and the focus, intent. Ithink we’re going to have adefense that’sgoing to be representative.” The way the Tigers represent against the dual-threat quarterbacks on their schedule may be the mosttelling test of all.

For more LSUsports updates, signupfor ournewsletter at theadvocate.com/lsunewsletter

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By HUNTER DAWKINS

Alabama coachKalen DeBoer discusses the upcomingseason during thethirdday of SEC media days on WednesdayinAtlanta.

Finishing with a bang

BY RONALD BLUM AP baseball writer

ATLANTA Kyle Schwarber was nervous.

He had played in Game 7 of the World Series and homered for the United States in the World Baseball Classic.

But he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off.

No one had.

“That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shootout,” he said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the ﬁnal one, to overcome a twohomer deﬁcit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after a 6-6 tie Tuesday night in which it wasted a six-run, seventh-inning lead.

Schwarber earned the MVP award, going 0 for 2 with a walk as the NL won for the second time in its past 12 tries. He became the first non-pitcher MVP without a hit.

“It will be interesting to see where that goes,” said AL manager Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees. “There’s probably a world where you could see that in the future, where maybe it’s in some regular-season mix. I wouldn’t be surprised if people start talking about it like that.”

Concerned about running out of pitchers in an era when no All-Star throws more than one inning, Major League Baseball and the players’ association made the change in 2022 In baseball’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shootout, the game was decided by having three batters from each league take three swings each off coaches.

Boone picked Brent Rooker, Randy Arozarena and Aranda on Monday, and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts picked

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C

Saints if Staley can get Davis back to being more of a pass rusher He had only two sacks last season after 13 over the two years prior And Davis is still among the Saints’ smartest players: His instincts will make the defense better, as long as he’s fast enough.

The Saints need more out of Werner In four seasons, he has produced only one interception, two forced fumbles and a halfsack. Werner makes plays — and the Saints badly missed him in his four-game absence last year — but they hardly change the game at a consistent enough level

Then again, maybe Staley’s scheme will help Werner thrive.

The Saints saw ﬁrsthand last year how former Saint Zack Baun ﬂourished under Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio one of Staley’s mentors whose scheme Staley and plenty of others have tried to copy Maybe Werner’s production will see an uptick without having to change teams.

Worst case

The Saints have downplayed the significance of switching to a 3-4 defense after being in a 4-3

Eugenio Suárez, Schwarber and Pete Alonso for the NL. Because Suárez was hit on the left hand by a fastball in the eighth inning, the NL turned to its alternate, Kyle Stowers.

Players from both teams stood outside their dugouts, some already in street clothes, jumping and shouting after each long ball from their side. Yankees coach Travis Chapman threw to the AL batters and Dodgers coach Dino Ebel to the NL hitters.

Rooker put the AL ahead by homering on his last two swings, and Stowers hit one. Randy Arozarena boosted the AL lead to 3-1.

Ebel had thrown batting practice to Schwarber two years ago at the WBC.

“He asked me right before, he was like, ‘Where do you want it?” ’ Schwarber recalled. “I’m like, just middle. And he’s like, ‘I gotcha.’”

He took two pitches and deposited the third just over the center-field fence. Schwarber took another, then hit a 461-foot drive over the right-center bullpen.

After letting two more go by, he dropped to a knee while pulling the third, craned his neck and held his bat in the air as the ball landed in the fourth row of the Chop House seats.

“I didn’t hit it, obviously, my best, but I was thinking I got enough of it,” Schwarber said. “And I was just kind of down there, hoping, saying: go, go, go. And it went And it was awesome.”

Aranda followed with a fly well short of the center-field warning track, drove a pitch about a foot shy of the top of the right-field wall and hit an opposite-field pop that dropped in medium left.

Alonso, a two-time Home Run Derby champion, didn’t have to bat and patted Schwarber on the head as ﬁreworks went off at Truist Field.

“I felt like a closer going into a game,” Alonso said, “and then it’s

like, wait, the guy in the ﬁeld got a double play to end the inning. You’re not going in.”

What was the score?

MLB, after consulting with the Elias Sports Bureau, said in 2022 that All-Star Games ending in a swing-off would be listed as tied, with a notation of the game being decided in a swing-off. MLB’s ofﬁcial postgame notes listed Tuesday’s outcome as a 7-6 NL victory

In earlier action

Ketel Marte’s two-run double in the ﬁrst had put the NL ahead, and Alonso’s three-run homer off Kris Bubic and Corbin Carroll’s solo shot against Casey Mize opened a 6-0 lead in the sixth.

The AL comeback began when Rooker hit a three-run pinch homer against Randy Rodríguez in a four-run seventh that included Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI groundout.

Robert Suarez allowed consecutive doubles to Byron Buxton and Witt with one out in ninth, and Steven Kwan’s inﬁeld hit on a threehopper to third off Edwin Díaz drove in the tying run.

Heat on the mound

Paul Skenes, the first pitcher to start the All-Star Game each of his first two seasons, reached 100 mph on four pitches in a perfect first.

Jacob Misiorowski, a controversial inclusion after pitching in just ﬁve major league games in his rookie season, ﬁred nine pitches of 100 mph or more in a one-hit eighth 34 days after his major league debut.

The 23-year-old righty, added to the NL roster by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, reached 102.3 mph. There were 21 pitches of 100 mph or more, down from a record 23 last year

Robot umpire debuts

Four of ﬁve challenges were successful in the ﬁrst use of the robot umpire in the All-Star Game.

scheme for almost a decade under Dennis Allen. It’s worth noting that Davis, at the beginning of his career, struggled in a 3-4 when he was with the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns. What if it happens again? The Saints can’t really afford to see Davis’ play take a further dip. He’s one of their better defenders and despite drafting Stutsman, there’s no guarantee the rookie will be ready to step into a starting role if Davis can no longer hold one down The Saints’ depth at linebacker

also has a lot to prove. Sewell, Jackson and Ford can contribute on special teams, but they haven’t had many opportunities to see the ﬁeld more than that. As mentioned, the Saints struggled mightily when Werner was forced to miss a month last season with a hamstring injury. If Werner or Davis miss an extended stretch next season, this group suddenly becomes a huge question mark.

Prediction in 10 words or less Davis plays well enough to earn another contract with Saints.

The one complication caused by Tech replacing Texas State is UL already had a home-and-home series scheduled with the Bulldogs — at Ruston in 2026 and in Lafayette in 2029. If the Bulldogs join the Sun Belt for the 2026-27 athletic year as many expect, the Cajuns will have to replace the Bulldogs in both years on their nonconference slate.

“Yes, it’s already on my to-do list,” Maggard said about that scenario. “We’ll have to ﬁnd another home-and-home series with somebody

“Texas State, I don’t know, it’ll be interesting to see if they’re available. At this time, it could be challenging to ﬁnd a new homeand-home opponent.”

While Louisiana Tech is no longer a women’s basketball powerhouse, UL women’s hoops coach Garry Brodhead is excited about the Bulldogs rejoining the league.

“To me, it makes a lot of sense — their location and coming from Conference USA,” Brodhead said. “With Texas State going out, I think it’s a good ﬁt for us.

3:16:49. 5. Wout van Aert, Belgium, Team Visma ‘ Lease a Bike, same time 6. Axel Laurance, France, Ineos Grenadiers, same time.

7. Fred Wright, Great Britain, Bahrain Victorious, same time

8. Mathieu Burgaudeau, France, TotalEnergies, same time 9. Quinn Simmons, United States, Lidl-Trek same time 10. Davide Ballerini, Italy, XDS Astana, 3:17:07. Overall standings 1. Ben Healy, Ireland, EF Education-EasyPost, 41:01:13. 2. Tadej Pogacar, Slovenia, UAE Team Emirates-XRG, 41:01:42. 3. Remco Evenepoel, Belgium, Soudal Quick-Step, 41:02:42. 4. Jonas Vingegaard, Denmark, Team Visma ‘ Lease a Bike, 41:02:59. 5. Matteo Jorgenson, United States, Team Visma ‘ Lease a Bike, 41:03:19. 6. Kevin Vauquelin, France, Arkea-B&B Hotels, 41:03:39. 7. Oscar Onley, Great Britain, Picnic PostNL, 41:04:37. 8. Florian Lipowitz, Germany, Red Bull — BORA — hansgrohe, 41:04:47. 9. Primoz Roglic, Slovenia, Red Bull — BORA — hansgrohe, 41:04:54. 10. Tobias Johannessen, Norway, Uno-X Mobility, 41:06:16. Transactions FOOTBALL

“They could easily be our travel partner now I really like it. It’s been talked about for a long time, and I’m glad it worked out this way.”

Perhaps no sport is bolstered more by Tech’s arrival than baseball. The Bulldogs have made three NCAA regional appearances this decade.

“Louisiana Tech coming into the Sun Belt is absolutely great for baseball,” UL baseball coach Matt Deggs said. “They have a nationally respected program and will add great value to an already premier baseball league.” In softball, Louisiana Tech split two games with UL in nonconference play in the spring.

Men’s basketball has maintained the series with UL more than the other sports over the last decade. The Bulldogs are coming off a 22-10 season Louisiana Tech football, meanwhile, is searching for its first winning season since 2019.

“I really think Louisiana Tech complements and ﬁts nicely with the Sun Belt Conference (competitively),” Maggard said. “Yes, that was important and then when you look at the geography, it just made a lot of sense.”

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@theadvocate.com.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRETT DUKE Saints linebacker Demario Davis, left, reacts after a stop against the Cleveland Browns during the first half of their game on Nov. 17 at the Caesars Superdome.

Schwarber’s homers in All-Star Game’s first swing-off lift NL over AL

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By BRyNN ANDERSON

Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber celebrates after winning the tiebreaker at the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta. Schwarber hit three home runs in the swing-off to earn MVP honors.

LIVING IVIN

Mom’s Gazpacho

Makes about 3pints. I can recall my mother blanching and peeling tomatoes for the silkiest gazpacho. Itried the nopeel wayand loved the results. Someversions call for bread, this is how mom made hers.

4medium fresh ripe tomatoes (about 1¼ pounds), cut into quarters

1medium cucumber,peeled, and coarsely chopped

1small onion, coarsely chopped

CBY APRIL HAMILTON Contributingwriter

omfort food knowsnoseason, and spreadingalittle joy is also always in fashion.Asthe beneﬁciaryofendless generosity,Iembrace everychance to give back. When Igraduated from nursing schooljust ayear ago, afriendgave me aname badge reel that says “sprinklekindnesslikeconfetti.” It becomes contagious. When it’shotter than July,Ilean on cooling gazpachothat tastes like anourishing sip of summer.Itcan transportyou to faraway Spain and soothe what ails you. My mother possessed such apenchant for this cold soup that Ihear her pronouncing the word while my blender whizzes garden tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions and other good things into liquid gold. She made it on repeat in ourFloridakitchen

ä See COMFORT, page 6C

1medium bell pepper, coarsely chopped

2cloves peeled garlic

¼cup cold water

2tablespoonsvinegar

1teaspoon fine seasalt

2tablespoons extravirgin olive oil

1. Place the tomatoes, cucumber,onion, bell pepper, garlic, water, vinegar and salt in the container of a blender(do this in batches depending on the size of your blender). Begin blending on low,then increase to medium then high until the mixture is smooth.

2. With the center of the lid removed, drizzle in the olive oilonlow andcontinue blending untilcombined. Replace the center of thelid andblend on medium, then high, to emulsifythe mixture.

3. Pour into awaiting Mason jars or container of your choice. Deliver immediately,orcover and chill forupto5days.

BY JUDYBERGERON Staff writer

In agastronomical switcheroo, New Orleans restaurateur Edgar “Dook” Chase IV makes his Food Network debut Thursday night, but he won’t be cooking alick. Rather, themastermind

PROVIDED PHOTO By DISCOVERy NETWORK

Recipe Showdown’ features Octavia Spencer and Edgar ‘Dook’ Chase IV

SalmonTacos Toppedwith Coleslaw

Yields 2servings. Recipe is by Linda Gassenheimer.

2teaspoons olive oil

¾pound wild-caught salmon fillet

1teaspoon smoked paprika

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2teaspoons lime juice

1cup deli coleslaw

2sliced radishes

2tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro

4(8-inch) light flour tortillas

1. Heat oil in large skillet. Add thesalmon skinsideup and saute 5minutes. Turn salmon over with skindown Sprinkle smoked paprika, and salt and pepper to taste over the cooked side. Pour lime juice overthe salmon.

2. Continue to cook 3minutes. Ameat thermometer should read110 to 115 F.

3. Remove salmon to a plate, scrape off the skin, and using two forkspull

thesalmonapart intosmall pieces.

4. While ﬁsh cooks, wrap tortillas in apaper towel andplaceinamicrowave oven for 30 seconds. Or wrap them in foil and place in atoaster oven or under abroilerfor 30 seconds to warm through.

5. Place two tortillas each on two dinnerplates.Divide thesalmon into fourhelpings and place onthe four

Granola

Salmon

Veterinarian wantsequal treatmentfor allpatients

TNSPHOTO By

LINDA GASSENHEIMER

tortillas. Add the coleslaw on top of thesalmon. Add the radishes to the tortillas andsprinklewiththe cilantro. Fold the tortillas in half and serve.

NUTRITION INFO PERSERVING: 607 calories (45 percent from fat), 30.6 gfat (5.3 g saturated, 7.8g monounsaturated),106 mg cholesterol, 42.6 gprotein, 48.5 gcarbohydrates,14.5 gﬁber,849 mg sodium

Recipe is inspired by Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat.Makes about 12 cups. When Idiscovered the ﬂavor explosion of using olive oil, maple syrup and salt instead of my traditional canola oil, honey andcinnamon version, Igavemyrecipe an update.

4cups rolled oats

1cup pumpkin seeds

1cup sunflower seeds

1cup shaved coconut (unsweetened)

2cups

1. Preheat oven to 325F Line alarge rimmed baking sheet* with parchment paper

Dear Miss Manners: Ihave changed from working at a veterinary clinic in alower socioeconomic area to one in amore afﬂuent area. I have noticed that when Irefer my patientstothe local specialist hospital, thehospital staff membersare much morepolite and respectful than they were when Icalled from my old clinic.

follow-up from the hospi-

This upsets me on behalf of my previous clients, as they and their animals deserve thesame treatment and respect as mynew patients. Is there away to gently encourage the hospital staff to be less concerned with thestatusofthe area that thepatients are from?

Gentlereader: Yes, but if you want toavoid being called naive about the fact that money talks, you will have to play naive.

As areferring veterinarian, you will, at some point, be asked toshare your thoughts on the hospital in question. No matter the form this takes —questionnaires from the hospital itself, informal discussions at your new clinic, whatever —include some negative examples about thefacility’scustomer service from your days at the old practice. Do so without mentioning where the patients involved were from. Given your status, this will cause concern and

tal. Even if the reasons for the disparate treatment turn out not to be as simple as you suspect, the hospital staffwill realize your new clinic is speaking forthe broader community.Miss Manners suspects all patients and facilities will beneﬁt from this realization. Dear Miss Manners: Once amonth, I makea4-gallon pot of soup formysmall church community.When planning the soup, Ikeep in mind the manyfood sensitivities that members of the community have, and still manage to serve a tasty variety of soups. Today, amember served herselfa largebowl of soup, seasoned it,took afew bites, then dumped theremainder of hersoupback intothe pot. Iapproached herand asked her why shehad done that, andshe saiditwas morethanshe could eat. Itold her she should have dumped the extra soup in the compost bucket. Itold her to never do that again. She acted as though Iwas being rude. For food safety,I should have dumped the entire pot of soup into the compost, but Idid not. I warned another member that the soup was no longer free of the seasoning she is allergic to, and apologized because she looks forward

to my allergen-free soup. How should Ihave handled the culprit?

Gentle reader: Youshould have been politetothe errantmember.Perhaps you were, though your lack of interest in asserting that youwere —and your useof wordslike “culprit”— make MissManners wonder Apolite correction would still have allowed you to makethe woman understand that her thoughtlessness meantother people were going to go hungry But it would have been done with asad tone, not an angry one —using phrases of apology,not confrontation. It would also have emphasized consideration forchurch members with allergies, not your own anger about wasting the timeyou put into the preparation.

If apologizing to this culprit seemscounterintuitive, Miss Manners asks you to consider the alternative: Do you wanttobe polite and change this person’sbehavior? Or do you want to be rude —and, by going on the attack, give her avalid grievance?

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www.missmanners. com; to heremail, dearmissmanners@gmail. com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Should yourinse afterbrushing?

COMFORT

Continued from page5C

The memories bring me comfort, and bonus: it also transports easily in aMason jar and keeps for afew days in the fridge so Ican share that comfort with anyone who needs it. Another family-favorite for sharing is big-batch granola, which validates turning on the oven for an hour in the summer.Oats, nutsand seeds glazed with a blend of olive oil and maple syrup, then slow baked until the whole house smellsof the goodness, is astaplein my kitchen. The concoction can vary with your whim and what’sonhand. The

‘SHOWDOWN’

Continued from page5C

much from her,”Chase said by phone last week. “And, not only did she teach me, she just gave me that conﬁdence and that comfort level. So that connection of me and her working together was great.” Chase and Spencer had initially met virtually on a Zoom call with part of the ‘Showdown’team. Unbeknownst to Chase, this was actually his show audition “Westartedtalking about food childhood memories. I had some Ishared, and Octavia had some that she shared. And when youstarttalking about food and childhood memories, you realize how similar we all are growing up,” Chase recalled. “There’s always afood experience, there’salways afood memory.Nomatter if you are a celebrity or you’re achef, everyone has those memories.” Accordingtothe show synopsis, “each episode welcomes family duos to the kitchen as they prepare their most cherished recipes for a$10,000 prize.” Together,Spencer and Chase will sample dishes before being joined in the ﬁnal round by arotating panel of

onlyrule here is to make a lot and sharewith abandon. Send it with individual cartonsofyogurt for a wholesome snack Bringingadish to afriend —after surgery,duringthe trials of cancer treatment, to anew mom, an exhausted caregiver or just because —helpsall involved. Fancy isn’tarequirement, but there are afew tipstofollow.Online meal sharing organizer sites likeMeal Train and Take Them A Meal can take the guesswork out of quantities, delivery times and dietary preferences. Consult with therecipientinadvancefor permission andparameters, then spread theword Miss Mannerssuggests returning aneighbor’s dish

guest judges and Spencer’s celebrity friends —including Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Chastain, Danielle Brooks, EricStonestreet, Tina Knowles,Kandi Burruss, TimGunn and Al Rokerwith hisdaughter Leila. In taste-testing the families’ ﬁnished products, even the well-seasoned chef Chase said he did digest a few new ideas.

“My grandmother (Leah Chase) was 96 in that restaurant reading cookbooks. So every day, we experience someone else’s cuisine,someoneelse’sculture,someone else’stradition we’re learning,” hesaid. “It gavemea sneak peek of how other people grew up. Whatwere their celebrations?Whatwere the timesthat they were having growing up? Whatmeals did theyhave at this occasion? What meals did they have at this occasion?

“And you learn from that and you take from that. So as achef, yes, Ilearned from each and every dishthat was displayed in front of me.”

Even withall the Chase family’s treasuredrecipes, it didn’ttakelongfor him to respond on which one he’d bring to the show if hewere competing.

His choice is meaningful: gumbo Anyone who’scookeda

*NOTE that dark baking sheets willget hotter than light colored ones, and the granola will cook much more quickly or burn. Using thelighter colored aluminum baking sheetsismy preference.

2. Combine the oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut, pecans and almonds in alarge bowl. Stir well to combine. Pour in the olive oil and maple syrup and stir again until the mixtureiswell coated. Sprinkle in the salt and stir again. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and spread into an even layer 3. Bakeinthe center of the oven, stirring every15-20 minutes, until deep golden brown, about 45 minutes to onehour.Remove the bakingsheet from the oven and let cool on acooling rack before stirringinthe dried fruit. Transfer to airtight containers and share witha smile.

reﬁlled with somethinggood in atimely fashion andwith athank you note. To free the recipientofthe burden of rememberingtoreturn whose dish to whom or at all, Isuggest sending food in disposable or reusablecontainers with awell wishes note and an idea or two of how to repurpose thecontainer when the time is right. Ikeep astock of mason jarsfor these occasions and love their limitless functionality

When Istarted my nursing job this time last year,a quotebySally Koch posted on our schedule grabbed my attention andcontinues to steer me: “Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.”

gumbo, affirmed Chase, knows you cannotcook a small pot, so it’sanecessity to invitepeople to the table to enjoy the dish.

“Mygrandmother often said gumbo helpedchange thecourse of America. Even from the Civil Rights days where youhad theleaders, bothBlack and White, walkingthrough that door,wefed them gumbo,” Chase said. “Presidents andcelebrities that came through that door, we fed them gumbo.Our neighbors, our community, we fedthemgumbo. Welcoming people back after natural disasters, we fed them gumbo in celebration.”

Having gained on-camera experience through his “Showdown” stint,Chase hashis eyeonmoresuch projectsinthe future.

“I lovewhatthis (show) means,towhat food does for people and conjuring up those memories that they have growing up,” he said. “Those memories last alifetime. Youwant each generation to have thesame memories or experiences that you grew up with.SoIhopethis show continues on. Ihope to be apart of it because Ithink this one is that important.”

Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate. com.

Dear Heloise: My dentist is adamant about no rinsing after brushing. If the toothpastehas ﬂuoride, he claimsthat rinsing will wash it away —Charlie, in Pennsylvania Charlie, this is a matter for debate. Somedentists feel that rinsing out after brushing washes away the ﬂuoride. Yetother people say that swallowing toothpasteupsetstheir stomach, or rinsing cleans out bacteria and food particles that were just brushed out from their teeth. Both sides present valid arguments —Heloise Telemarketer nonsense

ages, credit card offers, charitable causes, extended warranties, and/ or “free” trial offers. For the majority of the time, these are scams. Never give out any ﬁnancial information over the phone. If asked, just hang up the phone. Youcan report your experience to the Federal Trade Commission online (FTC.gov/ complaint). —Lonnie W.,inMichigan

Travelingalone

Dear Heloise: If atelemarketer calls you, ask yourself these questions while you’re on the call:

n What’s thehurry? Is there an urgent problem that needs to be handled?

n If it’s“free,” why are they asking me to pay or give them credit card information?

n Why am I“conﬁrming” information …oramIjust handing it out?

Resistall travel pack-

By The Associated Press

Today is Thursday, July 17, the 198th day of 2025. There are 167 days left in the year

Todayinhistory: On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California, after its $17 million, yearlong construction; the park drew amillion visitors in itsﬁrst 10 weeks.

Also on this date:

In 1862, during theCivil War, Congress approved theSecond Conﬁscation Act, which declared that all slaves taking refuge behind Union lines were to be set free.

In 1936, theSpanish Civil Warbegan as right-wing army generals launched a coup attempt against the Second Spanish Republic.

In 1944, during World War II, 320 men, two-thirds of themAfrican-Americans, were killed when apair of ammunitionships exploded at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California.

Dear Heloise: Travel is something I’ve always loved, especially to foreign places, but Iused to go with my husband. We’re no longer together,yet Istill wanttotravel. But to be honest, I’mscared to travel alone. Noneofmyfriends will go with me to other countries because they’re married or their careers don’tallow fortoo much timeoff. —Gigi, in Mapleton, Utah Gigi, you can go with a group that has similar interests as you do, and any travel agent can help you plan your excursion. If you decide to go by yourself,

TODAYINHISTORY

In 1945, following Nazi Germany’ssurrender, President Harry S. Truman,Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill began meeting at Potsdam in the ﬁnal Allied summitofWorld WarII.

In 2014, all 298 passengers and crew aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 were killed when the Boeing 777 wasshot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine; both Ukraine’s government and proRussian separatists denied responsibility

In 2020, Civil Rights icon John Lewis, whose bloody beating by Alabamastate troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to along and celebrated career in Congress, died at age 80. In 2022, areport said nearly 400 law enforcement ofﬁcials rushed to amass shooting that left 21 people dead at Robb Elementary

you might ﬁnd that you enjoy traveling on your own, or you might meet people whoenjoy traveling as much as you do. —Heloise Reusingpaper towels

Dear Heloise: Ihate to simply toss out apaper towel if it can be reused. Irinse out the paper sheet I’ve used, and while it’sstill wet, Iclean the leaves of my plants with it. Ihave ahuge rubber plant, and keeping the leaves clean not only makes it look good, it helps the plant to breathe. —Vicky, in Clarksburg, West Virginia Scentsense

Dear Heloise: For those of us with allergies, asthma and migraines, Ibeg all of your readers not to bring anything with ascent onto an airplane! We can becomevery ill from your beautiful fragrances. We know you love them,and they may smell wonderful, but they makeussick! Please use unscented items when you will be in close quarters. Thanks! —Patti H., via email

Sendahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

School in Uvalde, Texas, but “egregiously poor decision-making” resulted in achaotic scene that lasted more than an hour before the gunman wasﬁnally confronted and killed.

Today’sbirthdays: Former sportscaster Verne Lundquist is 85. Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom is 78. Rock musician Terry “Geezer” Butler is 76. Actor Lucie Arnaz is 74. Actor David Hasselhoff is 73. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel is 71. Film director Wong Kar-wai is 67. Television producer Mark Burnett is 65. Singer Regina Belle is 62. Country music artist Craig Morgan is 61.

Hints from Heloise

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS Serve up cozy granola and cooling gazpacho to beat the summer heat

Tacos Topped with Coleslaw

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Keep your thoughts and emotions to yourself. Offering too much personal information will put you in a vulnerable position. Concentrate on taking care of your responsibilities and your finances.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Participate in groups making a difference. The people you meet and the things you learn will encourage you to become a leader. Work hard and take pride in your accomplishments.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Stop before you do or say something you will regret. Look inward and fine-tune your attitude and goals. You cannot put a price tag on loyal connections fighting for the exact cause or results

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Visual learning will change your perspective on how educational pursuits impact you. A charismatic instructor will hold your attention and encourage you to be more entrepreneurial.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Hands-on learning is the best kind To gain ground, you must open your mind and be willing to try new things to see if they help or spark ideas that work for you.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Speak up and exude charm, and you'll have a positive impact on others. Craft a distinctive style that sets you apart from the competition. Being at the forefront will help you gain notoriety.

cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Listen and dissect what you hear; it will help dismiss confusion and mistakes. Believe

in yourself and your attributes. Leave nothing to chance or in someone else's jurisdiction.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Point yourself in a good direction and get going. You can make headway if you maintain focus, drive and insight into your goals. Make an effort to spend some time with a loved one.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Put yourself first. Arrange your schedule to ensure you have time to relax and pamper yourself. Change may be daunting, but settling for less than what you want will lead to regret.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Pay attention, think and decline an offer if you feel uncertain. Keeping a low profile will help you avoid trouble and provide the peace you need to pursue your interests.

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Take pentup energy and apply it to challenging physical activities. If you take on debt and responsibilities, it will be tough to achieve your objective. Making a change at home can boost your morale.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Follow your heart, but don't share personal information or feelings with others. Give yourself time to digest and rethink your next move. Choose peace and love over discord.

FAMILY CIrCUS

toDAy's

CeLebrItY CIpher

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM SherMAn’S LAGoon

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1to9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BaBY BLueS

By PHILLIP ALDER

Anna Quindlen, an author and journalist,said,“Lifeisnotsomuchaboutbeginnings and endings as it is about going on and on and on. It is about muddling through the middle.”

Bridge deals, though, are about all of thetricks,thebeginning,middleandend. One must be careful about jumping to conclusions at the beginning. In this deal, how should South play in three no-trump after West leads the spade eight?

When North balances with two clubs, hemaybidacoupleofpointslighterthan hewouldhaveneededinsecondposition. So when South advances, he should add a couple of points for his actions — hence two no-trump, not three no-trump. But North, because he has a full-weight overcall, raises.

Declarer starts with seven top tricks: one spade, three hearts, one diamond and two clubs. Obviously, the clubs will provide several extra winners. Also, because the spade queen can be established immediately, it looks natural for declarer to play low from the board at trick one.

However, that could be fatal. East can win with his spade king and shift to diamonds. Then, when he gets in with his club trick, the defenders run the diamonds. (Yes, if South first cashes his major-suit winners, East will have to unblock diamonds, keeping a low card, but West’s carding should have made it clear to do that.)

Instead, declarer should take the

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

InstRuctIons:

Puzzle Answer

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

hidato mallard

BRIEFS FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

U.S. producer prices

unchanged

WASHINGTON U.S. wholesale inflation cooled last month, despite worries that President Donald Trump’s tariffs would push prices higher for goods before they reach consumers.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index was unchanged last month from May after rising 0.3% the previous month. June wholesale prices rose 2.3% from a year earlier, the smallest year-over-year gain since September Both measures came in below what economists had expected. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so called core producer prices were also unchanged from May and up 2.6% from June 2024.

The report on wholesale inﬂation arrived a day after the Labor Department reported that consumer prices last month rose 2.7% from June 2024, the biggest year-over-year gain since February, as Trump’s sweeping tariffs pushed up the cost of everything from groceries to appliances.

Consumer prices and producers prices do not always move in tandem, however Bradley Saunders, North America economist at Capital Economics, saw some signs of the impact of Trump’s tariffs in a 0.3% increase in core wholesale goods prices. Furniture prices rose 1% from May and home electronics 0.8%, he noted. Both of those types of goods are heavily imported.

But producer prices at steel mills fell 5.5% despite Trump’s hefty 50% tax on imported steel.

TSA may up carry-on liquid allowance

WASHINGTON Travelers giddy about being able to keep their shoes on while walking through Transportation and Security Administration’s checkpoints at the airport again may have something else to look forward to: changes to how much liquid they can carry Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday during a conference hosted by The Hill that she is questioning “everything TSA does” and spoke of possible changes to the amount of liquids travelers can tote in their carry-on baggage. “The liquids, I’m questioning So that may be the next big announcement is what size your liquids need to be,” Noem said. “We have put in place in TSA a multilayered screening process that allows us to change some of how we do security and screening so it’s still as safe.” She gave no details about precisely what those changes might be or how quickly travelers could expect to see them.

Under the TSA’s current guidance, travelers can carry liquids in travel-sized containers 3.4 ounces or less per item in their carry-on bag Those containers must be placed in a 1-quart resealable plastic bag. Bigger containers must go in checked baggage, though there are exceptions for medications and baby formula.

GM to move Escalade production to Michigan

Come 2027, General Motors will move production of the Cadillac Escalade out of Arlington Assembly and into Michigan.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area manufacturing plant, which employs over 5,000 people, was previously touted as being “home to every new full-size ICE powered SUV in General Motors product lineup sold around the world.”

The move was ﬁrst reported by Reuters on Tuesday Despite the Escalade’s move, production at Arlington Assembly is expected to remain consistent, the report noted.

The moves are designed “to help meet continued strong customer demand (and) further strengthen our manufacturing footprint,” the company said in a statement provided to The Dallas Morning News.

THEADVOCATE.COM/news/business

Trump musing on ﬁring Powell rattles Wall Street

BY STAN CHOE AP business writer

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump sent the U.S. stock market on a jagged round trip Wednesday after saying he had “talked about the concept of ﬁring” the head of the Federal Reserve. Such a move could help Wall Street get the lower interest rates it loves but would also risk a weakened Fed unable to make the unpopular moves needed to keep inﬂation under control.

Stocks had been rising modestly in the morning, before news reports saying that Trump was likely to ﬁre Fed Chair Jerome Powell quickly sent the S&P 500 down by 0.7%.

When later asked directly if he was planning to ﬁre Powell, Trump said, “I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely.” That helped calm the market, and stocks erased their losses, though Trump added that he could still ﬁre Powell if “he has to leave for fraud.” Trump

has been criticizing a $2.5 billion renovation project underway of the Fed’s headquarters.

Trump’s main problem with Powell has been how the Fed has not cut interest rates this year, a move that would have made it easier for U.S. households and businesses to get loans to buy houses, build factories and otherwise boost the economy Lower interest rates could also help the U.S. government, which is set to borrow and add a lot more to its debt after approving a wide range of tax cuts.

Powell, meanwhile, has been insisting that he wants to wait for more data about how Trump’s stiff proposed tariffs will affect the economy and inflation before the Fed makes its next move.

The Fed has two main jobs: keeping the job market strong while keeping inflation under control. Lowering interest rates would help boost the economy but would also give inﬂation more fuel when tariffs

may be set to push prices for U.S. households higher

A report on Wednesday said inﬂation at the wholesale level slowed to 2.3% last month, which was better than economists expected. It’s an encouraging signal, but it came a day after another report suggested that Trump’s tariffs are pushing up the prices U.S. shoppers are paying for toys, apparel and other imported products.

Trump’s tariffs are making their weight felt across financial markets. ASML, the world’s leading supplier of chipmaking gear, warned that it can’t guarantee growth next year, after delivering an expected 15% growth in sales for 2025.

GrabAGun, an online retailer of firearms and ammunition, swung sharply after combining with Colombier Acquisition Corp. II and taking its spot on the stock market under the ticker symbol “PEW.”

Donald Trump Jr., the son of President Trump, is joining the company’s board. The stock quickly went from an early gain of 19% to a drop of 31% before finishing with a loss of 23.9%, with several halts in trading along the way All told, the S&P 500 rose 19.94 points to 6,263.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 231.49 to 44,254.78, and the Nasdaq composite gained 52.69 to 20,730.49. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell to 4.45% from 4.50% late Tuesday. It had been as low as 4.44% earlier in the day, but it climbed following the reports that Trump was likely to fire Powell. A new Fed chair friendlier to Trump could mean lower shortterm interest rates but also the opposite effect on longer-term yields. That’s because a less independent Fed would raise worries that it may also let inflation run higher in the future by being slow to raise interest rates.

GAME PLAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By DANIELLE CHARBONNEAU

Chuck’s Arcades, a concept from the Chuck E. Cheese organization, cater to adults but still feature many modern games and VR, sprinkled with retro gems like Skee-Ball, Centipede, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug and Mortal Kombat. Some old games have been reimagined, such as the modernized Space Invaders game.

Chuck E. Cheese opens arcades for adults, has 10 locations in eight states

BY DANIELLE CHARBONNEAU

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

(TNS)

For almost half a century

Chuck E Cheese has been a place “where a kid can be a kid.” But what happens when kids grow up?

Enter Chuck’s Arcade: a new concept branding itself as a place where an adult can be a kid.

One might think this concept would include beer and Chuck E. Cheese’s signature pizza alongside games. Several media outlets have even misreported that it does.

Alas, it does not.

With the exception of one location in Kansas City, Missouri, that does serve food and drinks, the 10 new Chuck’s Arcades in eight states across the country are simply as the name implies: arcades. A handful of the Chuck’s Arcades were previously Fun Spot arcades (also owned by CEC Entertainment) that have been redecorated and rebranded.

Mark Kupferman, executive vice president and chief marketing and insights officer for Chuck E Cheese, said there were three main factors that guided the company’s decision to create the adult-centric Chuck’s Arcade.

The ﬁrst was that the brand, now 48 years old, has an intergenerational following.

The second was that Chuck E. Cheese is, self-reportedly, the largest owner of arcade games in the world. The company was founded by Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari who originally built the Pizza Time Theater as a place to showcase Atari games

As more than 400 locations across the country have modernized their game ﬂoors, renovating

the spaces with large screens, virtual-reality games and other high-tech offerings for Gen Alphas and Z’ers, the older classics have needed new homes.

“We also have the largest technical staff than anybody else,” Kupferman added. “So if you put those two together, it made a really interesting proposition to take some of these games, take some of the memorabilia, take some of the old animatronics that we have, and in some cases, some of the artwork that people grew up with. We would have an experience that might be really fun for people.” Chuck’s Arcades still feature many modern games and VR, but are also sprinkled with retro gems like Skee-Ball, Centipede, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug and Mortal Kombat. Some old games have been reimagined, such as the modernized Space Invaders game. The last reason Kupferman said the company keyed in on the Chuck’s Arcade concept was that “nostalgia is in.” The brand can transport hearts and minds to bygone times. Spencer Brose, 24, of Athens, Georgia, ﬁts that target. Brose, who was visiting the Chuck’s Arcade in Buford, Georgia, on Saturday, reminisced about how he grew up playing games at the Chuck E. Cheese in Santa Cruz, California. He held his ﬁfth birthday party there. As he’s entered his 20s, he said he still longed to play arcade games from his youth.

“I still always wanted to play, but I didn’t feel comfortable going into a (Chuck E Cheese) because there’s so many children,” he said. “I’m a grown man. To go

by myself, people are going to look at me a little weird. Being able to have a spot that’s more catered back to us, it’s a nice change of pace.” While the company does not have any restrictions on adults dining or playing at Chuck E. Cheese locations without children (as has frequently been rumored), public perception has kept adults away

The games in traditional Chuck E. Cheese locations also have been programmed for young children.

For example, the game Halo in Chuck E. Cheese locations has violence settings turned down for the average player age of 5. The blood is not red; instead it is colorful and cartoonish.

“In Chuck’s Arcade, it is a fullblown Halo experience like you might ﬁnd in other arcades,” Kupferman said. One other distinction at Chuck’s Arcade is the presence of the brand’s retro logo on some merchandise and prizes, and, more notably the presence of display cases showcasing the animatronic characters from Chuck E. Cheese’s Munch’s Make Believe Band, which was a ﬁxture at the restaurant until the 2020s, when locations began phasing them out.

At the Buford Chuck’s Arcade, an animatronic Chuck, the brand’s mainstay mouse (who, fun fact, was a rat until the company changed it in 1993), is entombed in a tall, glass case by the entrance.

“I feel like with how crazy the world’s been right now, people are really starting to go back to the things that made them happy as kids,” Brose said. “We’re trying to relive that magic.”

Power shifting from workers to employers

BY EMMA NELSON

The Minnesota Star Tribune (TNS)

The federal government job was hybrid when Sarah Reynolds accepted it, meaning she could live in Hudson, Wisconsin, and work in St. Paul.

But within months of her landing in the Midwest — Reynolds’ fourth crosscountry move for work in less than a decade — the federal government had called its employees to the ofﬁce.

“This was not what I signed up for,” said Reynolds, 42, who took a buyout amid the Department of Government Efﬁciency overhaul of federal agencies. “I had all this ﬂexibility, and it got taken away from me.”

After the work-from-home days of the pandemic and the Great Resignation that followed, power that had shifted to workers has swung back to employers. Gone are the plentiful openings, hiring bonuses and ﬂexible schedules. In their place: fake online postings, recruiters who ghost candidates and return-to-ofﬁce mandates.

“It’s hard to believe that ﬁve years ago, people were wondering if we were really ever going to go back to the ofﬁce,” said Alan Benson, associate professor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Coming out of the pandemic, he said, employees and employers seemed to agree that work-from-home was working Workers were happy with the arrangement, and productivity was high.

More recently, though, executives have started to question success in areas that are harder to measure: acclimating new hires to company culture or coming up with innovative ideas. In other words, “watercooler stuff that you miss out on if you are trying to work hybrid or trying to work remote,” Benson said.

“I think that’s really what’s behind some of the big pitch to get people back to the ofﬁce,” he said. At the same time, rising unemployment has given employers more bargaining power

The momentum shift began in 2022, when the labor market was hot and prices were high, said Aaron Sojourner, senior researcher at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

The labor market has since cooled but stayed relatively strong, with unemployment hovering at 4% nationally Still, economic uncertainty — particularly around President Donald Trump’s ever-evolving trade war — has many employers hitting pause on hiring, leaving people without jobs in limbo and people with jobs feeling stuck. Return-to-office mandates, while “not as dramatic as hiring or laying somebody off,” Sojourner said, signal the change in power

A worker called back to the office three years ago might have felt confident about quitting and finding another job, Sojourner said, but “right now people definitely shouldn’t be that confident they can get another offer.”